An open adoption allows adoptees to know facts about their first family and in many cases gives them the opportunity to maintain a healthy relationship with their biological relatives. Open adoption is different for every family, but it involves some sort of communication between adoptive and biological families. The ability to communicate smooths the gaps between birth and adoptive families. When we communicate, we find that our differences fade away compared to our similarities. When we communicate, we open doors to full hearts and clear minds.
Social workers recommend starting a relationship according to what kinds of contact all parties are comfortable with and setting a guideline of how frequently families communicate. Setting up the level of communication at the beginning of this relationship means better communication down the road for biological/adoptive families. When both parties feel comfortable with their ability to communicate their problems and concerns all sorts of doors open. If either the biological family or the adoptive family feels uncomfortable with their ability to communicate, the relationship suffers right from the start. That is why creating guidelines on how to communicate from the start makes all the difference.
Here are six ways for biological and adoptive families to communicate in an open adoption:
