Cons Of Adoption

The open adoption process works best when prospective birth mothers and potential adoptive families communicate with each other every step of the way. Interactions can range from face-to-face visits all the way to phone calls and letters. While there are many positives associated with open adoptions, let’s take a look at some of the cons of this process below.

Cons Of An Open Adoption

Here are some of the possible cons of an open adoption from all three sides, including:

• Birth parents.
• Adoptive family.
• Adopted child.

Disadvantages For Birth Parents

Of course, the adoption process will differ from person to person. Agencies are designed to help every individual work through common matters, including the following:

• Disappointment: The opportunity of interacting with the adoptive family always carries the possibility of disappointment when the adoptive family does not live up to your expectations.
• Abuse of trust: Your personal relationship with the adoptive family could result in the abuse of your trust. It’s possible the adoptive family could abuse the trust you gave them by manipulating different circumstances.
• Minds change: The adoptive family has the right to stop or discontinue the adoption process whenever they’d like. This, of course, could leave the child in limbo and result in the need for foster care or other arrangements to be made.
• Obligations: The birth mother could feel obligated to place her child for adoption because of the financial dedication and emotional investment of the adoptive family.

Disadvantages For The Adoptive Family

Every family will have a unique experience when it comes to adoption. Some potential risks for the adoptive family can include:

• Added support: It’s quite possible the adoptive family may feel some pressure to offer emotional support for the birth family.
• More pressure: In most cases, the birth family will want a greater degree of transparency than the adoptive family. The adoptive parents then might feel some extra pressure to accept the birth family’s requirements for fear of not adopting the child.
• Unbalanced relationships: The adoptive family could discover an unbalanced relationship between the birth mother and another member of the birth family.

Disadvantages For The Adopted Child

For an adopted child, the potential disadvantages are comprised of:

• Feelings of rejection: If there is no longer any interaction between the child and birth mother, the child may feel rejected.
• Confusion of identity: As the child reaches maturity, he/she could become confused about family history and genealogy information.
• Peer communications: The adopted child could struggle to explain the different relationships he/she has to peers.
• Power struggles: The child could attempt to exploit both the adoptive and birth family by pitting the parties against each other.

As mentioned above, the open adoption process will differ for everyone. Communication is a key aspect of this process, making it as transparent as possible for all sides.

Source: “Disadvantages Of Adopting a Child” Moshier Law https://moshierlaw.com/disadvantages-of-adopting-a-child/