Tulsa Adoption Practices and Elsewhere are Changing

There has been a changing of the guard so to speak in Tulsa adoption practices and those around the country. A team of professors at the University of Missouri did an in-depth research study that uncovered that “open” adoptions benefit both the child and the adoptive parents.

Most Tulsa adoption practices and elsewhere throughout the majority of 20^th century were “closed,” meaning that communication lines between the birth parents and adoptive parents were largely never established because the birth parents would place their child with an adoption agency. Unless the child sought their birth parents out late in life, there would be no further contact.

In the 1990s, however, a shift from “closed” adoption to “open” adoption practices began to occur after adoption practitioners began to notice the benefits of “open” adoptions where the communication lines between the birth and adoptive parents were open.

“In the past, closed adoptions severely cut off any communication between biological parents and the children they placed for adoption,” said Haley Horstman, Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri in the US. “Biological parents in open adoption relationships often feel more secure knowing more about the parents who adopted their children. We found that the best outcome for an adopted child is for adoptive parents and birth parents to jointly tell the story of adoption, when appropriate. This open communication between birth parents and adoptive parents has changed the nature of adoptions; birth parents have appreciated this new movement toward openness.”

Research indicates that the nature of adoptions has changed due to the benefits associated with the open communication and transparency between birth parents and adoptive parents. Each side has been grateful for the shift in adoption practices.

Fellow University of Missouri professor Colleen Colaner noted: “It’s important to get a sense of what the adoptive parents are saying to birth parents and what they are saying to the adopted child about their biological parents.”

For the study, the University of Missouri team of researchers studied themes from the narratives of 165 adoptive parents that provided future framework for how biological and adoptive parents can communicate with their children moving forward.

Contact Fry & Elder with any questions regarding Tulsa adoption practices

Fry & Elder attorney Luke Barteux is well-versed in Tulsa adoption practices and focuses much of his legal practice on adoptions and guardianships. Barteaux is a highly-skilled and experienced adoption attorney who has been recognized as a Super Lawyers® Rising Star and is a 2016 graduate of the Oklahoma Bar Association Leadership Academy. Barteaux and fellow Fry & Elder attorneys make up one of the most decorated legal teams in Oklahoma, as the U.S. News & World Report has tabbed Fry & Elder to its elite list of Best Law Firms from 2014-2016. Contact Fry & Elder today to speak to an acclaimed Oklahoma trial lawyer.