There are many women out there facing an unplanned pregnancy and if you are considering placing your unborn child up for adoption GOOD FOR YOU. As I am sure you know there are thousands of potential parents just waiting for a child to call their own. Before you begin deciding on the parents for your child you need to give some other issues some thoughts. Choosing the adoptive parents is an extremely important decision but there are other decisions that you need to make before you begin the process of choosing the family.
First you need to think about whether you want to participate in an open adoption or if you would prefer a semi-open or even closed adoption.
An open adoption is that the birth family is allowed direct contact with the child and the adoptive family. The contact can be letters, phone calls and even face to face visits. The purpose of an open adoption is to establish a relationship between the child and their biological family. The some open adoptions the biological parents become a part of the extended family. Some biological families feel it is too difficult to watch the child you carried be raised by someone else. Some biological families want to give their child up for the benefit of the child but would love to have a relationship with the child while they grow.
There are semi-open adoptions which letters, pictures and correspondence is sent usually through a third party so that the adoptive family can keep its identity private while allowing some contact to go between the families. This is a good option for many families. It allows the biological family to send letters for the kids to receive when they get older or when the adoptive family feels comfortable. It also allows the birth parents to receive pictures or updates from the adoptive family. The amount of contact is often negotiated during the adoption process. It could be just a one way communication headed to the biological or adoptive family. This makes so many options available.
The last option is a closed adoption with a closed adoption there is no contact between the adoptive and biological family. This used to be the most popular type of adoption however it has lost some popularity over the last few years.
When we went through mediation for our youngest child we agreed on the semi-open adoption option. One thing you need to check into is if open adoptions are enforceable in your particular state. Although our adoptions were done in the state of Texas they are not enforceable in Texas. According to the lawyers we have spoken to they are more of a written handshake agreement.