What psychological effects does a closed adoption have on the adoptee?
In a closed adoption, the identity of the child’s birth mother and other family information remains confidential and is not accessible to the child. In an open adoption, this information is accessible to the child. In the most open situation of all, the child, his adoptive family, and his birth family interact more or less freely. The findings of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project suggest that an open adoption is a good thing for the adoptive family, the child, as well as the birth family. While many experts are strongly pushing for open adoption, there is still room for discussion of this understandably emotional issue. In helping people work through their psychological conflicts and problems, my wife and I must be sure to remind ourselves regularly of two facts: 1) that the human spirit is incredibly resilient, and 2) that every human being experiences some significant pain and/or dysfunction in his or her lifetime — i.e., life provides each of us a fair degree of disappo
