Rights and Adopted Children What rights under law should adopt

To this end, the paper first explores empirical research and conceptual arguments in favor of open adoption; this exploration is followed by an examination of research and arguments in favor of closed adoption. The final section of the paper analyzes both arguments and formulates a conclusion concerning open and closed adoptions in general as well as concerning the open adoption principle regarding whether adoptees should have the legal right to obtain information about their biological parents in particular.

Arguments In Favor Of Open Adoption

Austinson (1995) defines open adoption as an adoption system in which one or both of the birth parents (usually the mother) participates in the placement process and in which the records of the mother are available to the child at a given age; however, she notes that in some cases, open adoption can also include ongoing contact by one or both biological parents with the adoptive family and child. Closed adoption is characterized as adoption in which the records of the biological parents are not made available to the adoptee at any age, biological parents do not participate in the placement process nor do they have any contact with the adoptive family or child (Austinson, 1995)

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peaking countries have much in common. Some researchers have argued for open adoption policies on the ground that empirical studies have demonstrated that most Americans are in favor of it. For example, in one such study, Rompf (1993) conducted a moderately large-scale national public opinion survey (N = 646) regarding attitudes and opinions concerning adoption, open adoption, and the desire or need of adoptees to search for their biological parents. Random digit dialing was used to interview the sample and data were recorded using Likert-type coding. According to Rompf, findings showed that most adults were in favor of open adoption with 86 percent of the sample believing that adoptees would want to find their biological parents. In addition, approximately 77 percent of those responding to the telephone survey believed that adoptive parents should help their adopted children search for biological parents. Lifton (1990) has argued against closed adoption on psychological grounds. Specifically, Lifton reports that the clinical research clearly shows that adoptees have a difficult time forming a coherent self in the incoherent closed adoption system. She describes the experiences of adoptive children in the closed ado
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Approximate Word count = 3578
Approximate Pages = 14 (250 words per page)

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