Open adoption isn’t easy to define. There are so many ways to look at it.
Ask two people what open adoption means to them and chances are they’ll give you two totally different but equally interesting answers.
Well, last month, during National Adoption Month, we put that question to nearly 20,000 people — adoptive parents, hopeful adoptive parents, adoptees and birthparents on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages — to find out what they had to say about the matter, and they weren’t shy about sharing their opinions.
Here are some of the dozens of responses we received. This is in addition to the answers we got to our annual “30 Days 30 Questions” Q & A series.
What does open adoption mean to you? Tell us today or any day on our Facebook page.
1. “Open adoption is love without boundaries.”Ruth Carlson
2. “Open adoption is my miracle.” Rachel Szymanski
3. Open adoption is having an amazing orchard, not just a tree.” Rebecca Hall Ciccone
4. “Open adoption is what has given me a family.” Slugabug
5. “Open adoption means we grew our family by more than one baby.” ritzandglitzevents
6. “Open Adoption is inviting a few extra people into our lives who also love our daughter whole heartedly.” Leanne Bentley
7. “Open adoption is an answer to a lifetime of questions.” AmberHasFavorites
8. “Open adoption is not scary or a story on TV. It is a blessing, and a beautiful thing.” Katie Valleau
9. “Open Adoption is a privilege, not an obligation. A joy, not a burden.” Tara Wells
10. “Open adoption is giving a chance to those that want to become parents.” Michael & Manuel’s Adoption Journey – Help us Adopt
11. “Open adoption means more people to love my child.” Stephanie Plomp
12. “Open adoption is my child always knowing who she is and where she comes from. It’s about more people loving her.” RaiAn Givens Veronie
13.”Open adoption is being eternally grateful for the woman who placed her daughter in my arms and and made me a Mommy.” Hildie Stone
14. Open adoption is allowing my child to know where they came from. Jaye_gatsby
15. “Open Adoption is an amazing journey! You just don’t adopt a child, you are also adding a Birthmother to your family! Creating lasting memories!” Lori Tomka
16. “Open adoption is unconditional love for a child from both families. It unites two families into one.” Roanne Olsen
17. “Open adoption is love built on the greatest gift on earth, a child. Binding family’s through love not DNA.” Monica Rogers
18. “Open adoption is caring less of yourself and more for your child, both as a birth parent and as an adopted parent.” Elizabeth Humenyik
19. “Open adoption means that my daughter has ALL of the pieces to her life’s puzzle. She never has to wonder about anything!” Laura Walker Carson
20. “Open adoption is opening your heart and mind to a child you’ve never met and loving them unconditionally before you ever know who they are.” BradandJustinAdopt
21. “Adoption is the most complex and beautiful thing thta I have ever had the privilege of being associated with.” Tracy Mitchell
22. “Open adoption is an opportunity to grow your family not by one but by many.” Adoption Journey
23. “Adoption is having a deep and honest understand of empathy, compassion and thankfulness.” Megan Sandoval
24. “Open adoption is never having to wonder. Birth families don’t have to wonder how their precious little ones are and adoptees don’t have to wonder about their first families.”Alison Eavenson Webster
25. “Open adoption is hope.” Niki Blackwell
26. “Open adoption means I have not lost a granddaughter, I have gained new family members! It has saved us all! Sonya Enslow
27. ” Open adoption means watching my daughter grow up in the kind of family I couldn’t be for her.” Shannon Carey
28. “Open adoption is going to change every aspect of my life.” Mira Iryna Gallaway
29. “Open adoption is sacred.” Tara Wells
30. “Open adoption means we are all one family united in love of an amazing child.” Christine Rice- Cassidy
31. “Open adoption is all about united two families into one.”Dylan Cindy Betchik
32. “Open adoption is amazing.” Jan Mahon
33. “Open adoption is love.” Mary Thompson
34. Open adoption is placing your fears aside so true love can abide–the love for the child and the love for the birth family who have both divinely entered your life.” Crishana Dionne
35. “Open adoption is truth. “Leah Outten
36. “Open adoption is opening your heart to the woman who made the biggest sacrifice of her life to give you the best gift of yours.” Kelly Chiarilli
37. “Open adoption is love and family!” Dylan Cindy Betchik
Do you have an open adoption story? Share it with our community.
Help us remove the stigma surrounding open adoption. Like us on Facebook.