Open adoption is when an adoption occurs with no secrecy, the child can know who their birth parents are and the birth parents have the right to keep in contact with the child. The open approach to adoptions has occurred in Western Australia since 1995. It can be compared to closed adoption practices of the 20th century and the effects these had on many people involved in adoption.
In an open adoption, the child has a right:
The parent who consents to the adoption of their child has 'an opportunity to be actively involved' in the legal and other processes of the adoption.
The Department for Child Protection and Family Support's guide for step-parents who are considering adoption explains the difference between open and closed adoption:
In the past it was thought that secrecy was in the best interest of all parties to adoption. However over the years, these secrecy provisions have caused a lot of distress to those affected by adoption. Extensive research found that many adopted people want to know about their original family heritage without necessarily affecting the close relationship with their adoptive family. Adoptive families, it has been found, often lived under the strain caused by the pretence and secrecy they felt compelled to maintain.
Sources used to compile this entry: Department for Child Protection Western Australia, 'Adoption by a Step-Parent', in Adoption website, Department for Child Protection Western Australia, Government of Western Australia, May 2009, https://web.archive.org/web/20200309085423/http://www.dcp.wa.gov.au/FosteringandAdoption/AdoptionAndHomeForLife/Documents/Step-ParentAdoptionInformationGuide.pdf.
Prepared by: Debra Rosser
Created: 28 June 2012, Last modified: 2 March 2015
Last updated: 17 October 2023
Cite this: https://www.findandconnect.gov.au/ref/wa/biogs/WE00672b.htm
First published by the Find & Connect Web Resource Project for the Commonwealth of Australia, 2011
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