Adoption Options

Child Welfare defines adoptions as the social, emotional, and legal process in which children who will not be raised by their birth parents become full and permanent legal members of another family while maintaining genetic and psychological connections to their birth family. There are different types of adoption in the United States:

Adopting Through the Child Welfare System

These are children in foster care and their birth parents cannot take care of them, or their parental rights have been terminated. Another type of adoption that falls in these criteria is the Fost-Adoption; this is a form of adoption where children will be placed after receiving foster care, and they will become legally free and available to be adopted.

International Adoption

International adoption is very common; even though it is more expensive, many families pursue this option to provide opportunities for children living in poverty and insecurity. One challenge step is filling the citizenship for the adoptee.

Private Adoption

This option is typically done through an agency; this is one of the most common adoption types. In a private adoption, the birth parent or parents voluntarily place their child for adoption. The birth parent chooses the family with whom they will place their child.

Relative or Kinship Adoption

This adoption happens when people adopt members of their own family. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, it is any instance where children cannot safely remain at home with their parents. This procedure is the first type of adoption considered.

Closed vs. Open Adoption

American Pregnancy Association defines closed adoption as an adoption process where there is no interaction between birth mothers and prospective adoptive families. This means there is no identifying information provided either to the birth families or adoptive families. However, non-identifying information such as physical characteristics and medical history may be made available to those involved.

Open adoption occurs when potential birth mothers and prospective adoptive families have a personal interaction with one another. In this type of adoption, the identities of all parties are shared. Interaction can differ from one family to another and may include letters, e-mails, telephone calls, or visits.

Research has shown that children do better in an open adoption because it allows them to better understand how they came to be adopted. An open adoption also allows them to ask questions about their family backgrounds as these questions come to mind throughout their lives.

Child Welfare Information Gateway. (2020) Adoption. Retrieved from:

Adoption Center. (2020) Types of Adoption. Retrieved from:

American Pregnancy Association (2020) Open Adoption. Retrieved from: