open adoption

The concept of ‘openness’ in adoption has often been associated with the private adoption of infants. Although the bulk of research on openness has largely focused on this type of adoption, increasingly today researchers and practitioners are considering how openness can be a part of all types of adoptions.

Every holiday season, 17-year-old Jordain Rodriguez sends a note to two families she barely knows with a simple wish: She’d like to see her nieces and nephews. Around the holidays and on each of the children’s birthdays, she writes emails to the two families who adopted her family members, asking for pictures, any recent updates and a chance to talk to them.