Making Room in Our Hearts: Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption

Although adoption has never ceased to be a topic of wide interest, there is little material that covers the option of open adoption, which calls for regular contact between the adoptive and birth parents and the child. While closed adoption often prompts anguish and confusion over the adoptee's identity, open adoption allows the child access to his/her birth parents. Making Room in Our Hearts shows that children have a right to know and claim both their biological and adoptive families, rather than having to choose between the two or have no choice in the matter at all. Making Room in Our Hearts covers the basic issues of open adoption while also including real-life, relatable stories of those with experience making and living through these challenging decisions. Duxbury addresses common fears and concerns, gives attention to siblings and other extended family, and discusses how adoption has changed and how it will continue to change in the future. Based on the author's interviews with over one hundred adoption professionals/ experts, birth and adoptive parents, extended family, and adopted children, the book provides profiles of families from a variety of backgrounds and situations and includes a host of viewpoints of those with specific knowledge. By showing how open adoption works for others, those who are currently considering it can see how it may work for them. This book will help the readers more fully understand the benefits, concerns, and overall process of a child-centered open adoption.