What Can I Expect?I work closely with birth mothers in Florida who are considering putting their unborn baby up for adoption. By building a relationship with them, I get to know them and what they are looking for in an adoptive family.
My adoptions are semi-open. If it is possible, I like the adoptive parents to meet with the birth parents. When that isn’t possible, I ask the adoptive parents to provide a “Dear Birth Mother” letter that describes them and their lives. I also ask for pictures of the family.
The adoptive parents need to agree to provide pictures of the adopted child four times the first year and then at Mother’s Day and Christmas thereafter.
The terms open adoption, semi-open adoption and closed adoption are commonly used to describe the type of relationship between the birth parents and the adoptive family. However, they tend to hold varying definitions depending on whom you talk to.
Semi-open adoptions fall somewhere in between open and closed adoptions. The adoptive family and birth parents usually will know basic information about each other, such as their first names and type of employment. Personally identifying information from either party is not shared.
Adoptive families and birth parents may speak to one another prior to the birth of the child, or even meet in person. Even so, confidentiality is maintained. Once the child has been placed with the adoptive family, the birth parents may still stay in contact with the family via letters and pictures, through this office.
This office maintains the current contact information for each party. If the birth parents or adoptive family wishes to send a letter or pictures to the other party, they simply mail it to this office. We then repackage the letter so there is no identifying information (such as the mailing address) and forward it on to the recipient.
A majority of the adoptions conducted through this office are semi-open in nature. Closed adoptions are rare. We ask that waiting families agree at a minimum to provide pictures and letters at periodic intervals to the birth parents, if it is requested by them. This office will be responsible for routing all correspondence to ensure confidentiality.
