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David Brodzinsky, PhD Psychologist and Author, explains what the benefits of having an open adoption are, and shares advice on how to make an open adoption work successfully
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Open adoption involves the sharing of identifying of information between the two families; the adoptive family and the birth family, typically, at the time of placement.
Usually, some kind of plan for continuing contact after the placement is made. It can be an agency, an intermediary. Very often, it is direct contact by letter, by email, and visiting. Sometimes open adoption involves the child from the very beginning, sometimes it's not. It involves contact between both sets of parents and eventually, the child is brought into it.
Research shows that open adoption, generally, benefits children, but not in every case. Every family needs to evaluate the circumstances, get to know the birth parents. Sometimes open adoptions become more open with time, sometimes they close temporarily.
The important thing to remember is, if there are bumps in the road along the way, typically, families can work them out.
David Brodzinsky, PhD Psychologist and Author, explains what the benefits of having an open adoption are, and shares advice on how to make an open adoption work successfully
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David Brodzinsky, PhDPsychologist & Author
David Brodzinsky is Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Foster Care Counseling Project at Rutgers University. He also maintains an active private practice serving the clinical needs of children and families, including individuals who are part of the adoption triad. Brodzinsky has written and lectured extensively in the fields of developmental and clinical psychology and is an internationally known expert in the field of adoption. He is co-author of such well-known books as, The Psychology of Adoption, Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self, and Children's Adjustment to Adoption: Developmental and Clinical Issues.
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