10 Moments That Make Open Adoption Worth It

“My daughter meeting her new baby brother for the first time. She was so excited to have a new sibling. She knows our story and she loves hearing all about it.” - Beverly

“After years of not hearing back, sending a message that my son wanted to see his birth mom and having her respond right away and making the visit happen within a month. No matter how hard it is with no contact between, knowing she will be there when HE needs her is priceless.” - Beth

“My full relationship with my birth grand daughter is worth every moment of pain, grief, and agony over worrying I would not have this beautiful whole relationship with S. She is 4 in November and I am her Nona. I adore her adoptive Daddies. Our close relationship with our granddaughter and her fathers is a blessing, a gift, and worth every growing pain we experienced to get to where we are. “

“Taking photos together with our birth mom and our new son. You can see on both of our faces how much we love him. We gained a son and a new family member too.”

“My birth son and his (adoptive) father flew into town for a funeral, and ended up without a rental car. Since our adoption is so open, his (adoptive) mom called me and I offered to go pick them up and drive them to pick up a rental car (an hour each direction). We ended up getting lunch with my mom and kids, and had a great time! It was a fun bonus visit, and I am so grateful that we have enough trust in our relationship for something like that to feel so "normal". Another was when my birth son explained to my daughter, who is two years younger than he, how they are kind of like siblings and that he grew in my tummy, but I had to find his parents for him. It was one of the sweetest moments ever. He was so comfortable with his story, and I could tell his parents had treated our whole story as sacred.”

“The 83 times I hear "mommy, mommy, mommy!!!" every day! *and that's a low estimate” - Lisa

“Not having to worry about holes in medical information: when my child had an issue, I only had to ask!”

“A random email from my birth son to just update me about a few things in his life. That his adoptive mom would trust him to do that meant a lot to me.” - Alyssa

"My son’s birth dad, after hearing some of our son’s less desirable behaviors jokingly (and with a smirk) said to me, 'My mom always said I would have one just like me. And you got him.' To be able to laugh with someone else who loves our child, and understands him and all his faults, felt great."