Today is the first day of student orientation to me so I am recreating the balance between blogging and teaching. As a commitment to this project I wanted to get something new up–and then it’s back to my perennial quest to keep up with comments.
A couple of recent writings about adoption have been on my mind. There’s this article from the Wall Street Journal. Obviously a lot of substance and much to think about here. The vast majority of adoptions (95% by some studies) in the US are now open adoptions–which means that the birth family and the adoptive family know each other. (Or at least, they can have contact with each other.) While this does not help the generations of people adopted at an earlier time, when the preference was for closed adoptions, it’s an important step forward for future generations of adopted children.
At the same time, as one expert notes, “open adoptions makes families more complicated.” Continue reading