Adoption Information

What is adoption?
Adoption is the legal placement of a birth mother’s child with people who will raise the child as their own.

Is adoption permanent?
Yes. Once placed, the child becomes permanently and legally a member of the adoptive family with full rights to inheritance and a lifetime family relationship.

What is an "open" adoption?
In open adoption, the birth mother selects the adoptive parents for her child. (In most states, minors do not need a parent’s permission to choose adoption.) The two families may decide to keep in touch. Open adoption allows birth parents to contact the child through letters, pictures, and visits with the child and his family. Be sure to check your state laws to find out if a legal contract for ongoing visits is permitted.

What is closed adoption?
In closed adoption, the names of the birth mother and the adoptive parents are kept secret from one another.

What "qualifications" must someone meet before he or she is approved as a prospective adoptive parent?
At most adoption agencies, adoptive parents go through a fairly lengthy process in order to become "approved." They may attend group meetings and interviews. They also may complete a lot of paperwork, and go through a "home study." Each agency prepares their families differently, but they all do their best to make sure the family is ready for a baby.

How much can a birth mother know about the adoptive family?
In open adoption, birth mothers are very involved in choosing adoptive families for their children; they can also choose to be completely uninvolved. When choosing prospective adoptive families, birth parents are often given profiles of each family. Profiles include information about potential adoptive families' ages, their physical and personality characteristics, their marriage status, religion, lifestyle, occupations, educations, feelings about birth parents, attitudes toward education and discipline, and more. In some cases, birth mothers meet the prospective adoptive parents before the child is born.

What information is needed from the birth father?
Most agencies like to get as much information from the birth father as possible. Each state has different laws about what rights a birth father has. Contact a local adoption agency to find out more about the laws in your state.

How soon after the baby is born can it be placed in an adoptive home?
Each state has different laws about this, too. There is usually a waiting period of 48 hours or more before a child can be placed. In some states, the birth mother may changer her mind during a limited period of time. Contact a local adoption agency to find out what the laws are in your state.

May birth parents write the adoptive parents a letter explaining to them the reasons for placing the child for adoption?
Many agencies encourage birth parents to write a letter not only to the adoptive parents but also to their child. Many agencies act as a "go between" for the birth and adoptive families.

Are birth parents able to have a visit with their baby before they sign the adoption papers?
Most often, relinquishment forms are signed after discharge from the hospital, and birth parents are often present at the adoptive placement. Many agencies even encourage what's called a "placement ceremony," to which both the adoptive family and the birth family can invite others to witness the placement of the child.

May birth parents have a picture of the baby?
Most often, yes. Many birth parents take lots of pictures in the hospital before they and the baby are discharged. Agreements are often made with the adoptive family regarding the sharing of pictures and letters, and in open adoptions, visits, prior to the placement of the child.

Written by Jennifer Johnsen, MPH
Update by Jon Knowles

Published: 01.01.04 | Updated: 11.06.07

© 2007 Planned Parenthood^® Federation of America, Inc. All rights reserved.