Adoption is a challenging choice. A birth mother wants to know her child is safe and loved, but often, she feels very vulnerable and needs privacy. If you wish to remain anonymous but have contact with your child and their family, a semi-open adoption is best.
Placing your child for adoption offers many choices. Make sure the adoption professional you choose explains the process thoroughly so you feel confident about making this difficult yet loving decision.
How Does a Semi-Open Adoption Work?
Today, 90 to 95% of all adoptions are either semi-open or open. These types of adoption suggest that the adoptive couple and the expectant parents communicate before the baby is born and once the child is adopted.
Adoption calls for a great deal of trust, which can take time to build. While the two parties are getting to know one another, a semi-open adoption lets them have privacy while continuing to communicate.
A semi-open adoption is also known as a mediated adoption, which means the adoption professional you work with handles all communication between the two parties.
The parties send their correspondence to the mediator, who removes all identifying information and then forwards it to the recipient. Contact can involve emails, photos and letters, or phone calls. The mediator can also arrange and conduct in-person visits at a public location.
You Choose the Couple Who Will Raise Your Child
As the expectant mother or birth mother, you are in control of the process. When choosing an open or semi-open adoption, you also select the potential adoptive couple. You determine the future you hope your child will have.
An adoption agency will show you several profiles of qualified adoptive couples. The couples share photos of their home, neighborhood, family, pets, etc. You select the one that shares your same values. You can meet the couple before giving birth and begin corresponding immediately.
What are the Other Adoption Plans?
Closed
Choose a closed or confidential adoption if you wish to remain completely private. With a closed adoption, the birth mother usually doesn’t select the adoptive parents. Neither party has information about the other, and the courts seal the original birth certificate. Only 5% of adoptions today are completely closed.
Open
When the birth parents and the adoptive parents exchange identifying information such as full names, addresses, phone numbers, etc., it is called an open adoption. Both parties can contact the other as agreed upon. No one supervises personal visits or coordinates contact.
Often, an adoption begins as semi-open, and once the two parties are comfortable, they can exchange information and begin communicating directly.
How Can First Choice Georgia Assist Me?
First Choice Georgia is not a licensed child-placing agency. However, we partner with local adoption agencies that love and fully support expectant mothers and birth mothers. These agencies also prioritize placing children in safe, loving, two-parent homes.
If you want to discuss the adoption option or your other options, please do not hesitate to contact us. You can make a free, confidential appointment with one of our trained and compassionate patient advocates. We’re here for you.
