When it comes to unplanned pregnancy, the most common choices for U.S. women are abortion or parenting. But there is a third option, one that is often left out of the conversation when discussing reproductive rights – adoption. In fact, less than 4 percent of unplanned pregnancies result in adoption. The adoption process has drastically changed over the past 30 years. Originally a closed adoption process was practiced. It wasn’t until a generation of adoptees grew up and started talking about how the closed adoption process left them with unresolved grief. Now 95 percent of adoptions in the United States are open.

When you decide to adopt a child, you may have many questions. There are lots of answers out there in the cyber-world and we have found that various information and sites are inaccurate or simply out of date. We are proud to partner with accredited organizations that offer updated resources that families can turn to when they have questions about adoption.*

ABBIE GOLDBERG
Professor of Psychology, Clark University
Research has shown that openness benefits all parties involved. I am a psychologist who studies open adoption. One topic I research is how adoptive parents grapple with the decision of whether and when to share difficult origin stories with their children.*