TYPES OF ADOPTION

Open Adoption
Open adoption involves sharing confidential information like full names and addresses with the birth parent. In an open adoption you will develop an ongoing relationship with the birth parents, you can meet face to face and participate in an interview between you and the birth parents as the family who you desires to adopt their child. The amount of ongoing contact between the birth parents, the child and the adoptive family is agreed upon by both parties. This contact may include the birth parents visiting with the child as he/she grows, or attending special functions with the extended family members, etc.

Open adoption may also include direct correspondence between the birth parents and the adoptive family that may include letters, videos, and photos which will be sent directly to you. There is direct contact with each other in person, via email, postal mail, and/or telephone.

Semi-open Adoption
In a semi-open adoption the birth parents may choose a family without totally disclosing or exchanging personal information. Here you would only exchange your first names with each other for example. The birth parents may choose a family from a non-identifying profile from ASCS’s Waiting Families Book. The agency acts as a mediator between the birth parents and the adoptive family before and after the birth of the child. You can choose to meet the birth family, should both sides agree, before the child is born with an ASCS staff member present. All contact and correspondence between the adoptive family and the birth family such as gifts, photographs, letters, videos are sent through the agency.

Closed Adoption
In a closed adoption all confidential information except for the medical and social history remains confidential and there is no further contact between the birth parents and the child. No one exchanges any identifying information. Birth parents may request that the agency choose child's adoptive family. There is no sharing of information after the adoption is final. Access to finding the birth parents is limited by the law and must be mutual at the time that the child is of a legal age.