Laura made an adoption plan for her son Spencer 18 years ago, and chose to have a very open adoption with the adoptive mom she chose. She’s maintained yearly visits with her son and the adoptive mom, Theresa. Read on to find out more about open adoption, and to see how it looks in birth mom Laura’s life today…

Back in 2009, Laura appeared in a PBS special on adoption that was taped at Lifetime Adoption Center. You can see the full footage here: Lifetime Adoption Featured in National Adoption Video. At the time of the taping, Spencer was just shy boy of 11. Today, he’s 18 and a senior in high school!

Laura’s son Spencer has been able to meet her other children, his half-siblings, and has found lots of things in common between them. Spencer and his biological brother are friends, and both played football in high school. They’ve really bonded and go to each other’s football games. 

“It’s really cool how our families have really blended…his adoptive mom Theresa even went to my grandbaby’s 1st birthday party. My other children love Spencer so much!” Laura says.

In adoption, you can choose the type of contact you’d like with your baby’s adoptive parents. You might choose an open adoption, or a semi-open or closed adoption.  Most adoptions nowadays are open or semi-open; that means that you pick the family and start a relationship with them that includes contact after the adoption. Closed adoption means that you never meet the adoptive couple; an adoption company chooses them for you. And, you don’t know the adoptive family or communicate with them. Closed adoption is possible, but today it’s pretty rare.

Contact might be in the form of letters, emails, or visits, or it could be Skype calls or connecting on Facebook or Instagram. The choices for the level of contact are up to you; choose whichever you feel comfortable with. Do you have questions about open adoption? Just email Lifetime Adoption or give us a call at 1-800-923-6784. That phone line is answered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by a real person.

Written by Heidi Keefer

Heidi Keefer is a Content Creator for Lifetime Adoption and has 15 years of experience in the field of adoption. An author of thousands of blog posts over the years, Heidi enjoys finding new ways to educate and captivate Lifetime’s ever-growing list of subscribers.

Heidi has a keen eye for misplaced apostrophes, comma splices, and well-turned sentences, which she has put to good use as a contributor to Lifetime’s award-winning blogs. She has written and published hundreds of adoption articles which explore the various facets of domestic infant adoption today.