Navigating Birth Family Relationships & Openness

Navigating relationships with a child's original birth family or relatives can be nerve-wracking, heart-breaking and complicated, yet also poignant and beautiful. Children, once grown, often voice that staying connected to these family members is beyond meaningful, even if painful and disappointing. Nothing can take the place of knowing one's roots, identity and culture. Our job (which is tough!) is to support and keep them safe as they seek out and explore this connection. Please also reference our Adoptee & Foster Voices, Grandparent/Relative/Kinship, Siblings, and Transracial Parenting pages for more resources.

Websites

Recommended Books & Articles

Openness-related Materials in ORPARC's library and DIGITAL library, including Openness Information Packet developed by ORPARC

ORPARC's Kinship/Relative Caregiver Related Resources
5 Tips for Better Communication in Your Open Adoption Relationships in 2016 by Melissa Giarrosso
7 Considerations for Navigating Birth Family Relationships After Adoption by Margie Fink
Benefits Of Open Adoption Ensure That No One – Children, Birth Or Adoptive Parents – Usually Regrets Staying In Touch by Harold Grotevant
Birth-Foster Family Connections by Bright Spots - explains the concept of Comfort Calls
Birthparents On Their Minds by C.A.S.E.
Connections Matter: Relationships are Important for Foster, Adopted Children by Debbie Riley and Ellen Singer
NACAC
- Co-Parenting or Shared Parenting
- Facilitating Openness Can Benefit Children Adopted From Care
- Helping Children and Youth Maintain Relationships With Birth Families
- Helping Children Connect With Their Birth Parents
- Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency
The Hidden Hurdles & Benefits of Kinship Care and Adoption by National Council for Adoption
How to Establish Boundaries in an Open Adoption? by Jessica Heesch
How to Honor Your Child's Birth Family by Tony Hynes, C.A.S.E.
How to Overcome Open Adoption Challenges by The Cradle
Reach with Them: One Foster Mom's Story of Open Adoption by Creating a Family
Realistic Expectations for Kinship Families by EMK Press
Talking About Birth Parents & Identity by Dr. Chaitra Wirta-Leiker
What Growing Up In An Open Adoption Has Taught Me by America Adopts
Why Openness? by A Nickel's Worth of Common Sense

Videos & Podcasts

Finding the Peace: One Man's Powerful Story About Finding His Biological Family with Willie Moore, Jr. by The Honestly Adoption Podcast
How Two Families are Navigating Open Adoption After Foster Care by Meg St.-Espirit
Open Adoption Best Practice: Repairing the Corrective Emotional Experience of Separation Trauma by Jeanette Yoffe

Life After An Open Adoption

Created by the producers of the award-winning F Word - a heart-warming series about a couple's own adoption from foster care - follow this next chapter as they explore what openness will mean for their family.