Grief and Open Adoption
by Brenda Romanchik
Open adoption is often presented to birth parents as a way to lessen the grief of losing a child to adoption. Being able to see your child and eventually develop a relationship with him or her do not, however, change the fact that you are no longer the child's parent. In fact, the loss of being Mom or Dad is often painfully obvious to us with each visit. Losing a child to adoption is one of the most significant losses.....
SILENT VOICES HEARD: Impact of the Birthmother's Experience, Then and Now
by: Donna Portuesi, MSW, and Reunited Birthmother
Living an experience is to know it. For the birthmother, however, living the experience and understanding the totality of the experience may take a lifetime journey. The relinquishment of a child for adoption permeates all aspects of a birthmother's life. Only a couple of decades ago, many unwed mothers, no matter how capable, were scorned and labeled....