Reply #49: Yes, for now and in the future

[supernova]

For adoptions in the past,I think think adoptees have the right to:

- their rightful ethnic heritage. Everyone needs a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves.

- their family medical history including diseases and conditions that run in the family. It's not really fair to make them and their docs work blind in preparing for their healthcare. Could also be potentially dangerous.

These are things an adult absolutely needs to know.

Beyond that I think if birth mothers and their adopted children are interested in exploring a way to make contact or more, there should be a way to do that. Isn't there some registry you can sign up with to say that you are open to communicating with your child? Conversely if either party wants to let sleeping dogs lie, that should be OK too. There was a lot of shame attached to events like this years ago and opening up those kinds of wounds for someone who isn't ready (and might never be) could be very hurtful. I don't think it's very wise or kind to force them into coming forward.

For today and into the future, I very much admire and support the open adoption model. I don't see a down side to it if everyone is honest about what they want and capable of handling relationships.