Open Adoption as a Family Form: Community Assessments and Social Support

In this article, community assessments of support for three levels of open adoption are examined, including two types of mediated adoption, fully disclosed adoption, and confidential adoption. Combining telephone survey data from a Canada-wide random sample of 706 respondents with 82 qualitative interviews, the authors report on community assessments of these levels of openness and the relevance of these results for other survey research conducted on these issues. The authors also explore community assessments of the perceived advantages and disadvantages of open adoption and confidential adoption for adoptive parents, birthparents, and adopted children and how these may or may not reflect clinical assessments. Finally, the authors consider the implications of these results for clinical initiatives with members of the adoption triangle.