If you are a birth parent (mother or father) in an open or closed adoption who relinquished voluntarily or had your rights terminated, PLEASE TAKE THIS SURVEY. They are looking for 600 participants by December 1, 2008. Let's blow that number out of the water.

Here's some info:

The Surrender Survey Project is for parents (mother and fathers) who have voluntarily relinquished and/or had their rights (involuntarily) terminated. And so, in that way, it is all inclusive. More over, the questions pertain to both parents in closed and open adoption, not just one or the other. I know that there are some things that try to exclude one group or the other but this survey acknowledges both. In fact, this survey's success depends on answers from both closed and open adoption birth parents.

Of special note: for parents that have relinquished more than one child, you are asked to take it once for each child relinquished. (Meaning, if you have placed two children, please take the survey twice, answering specifics for each individual child on each individual survey attempt.)

(If you need a bit more info, read the birth/first parent blog. Or just take the survey!)

Today, Allison Quets pled guilty to international kidnapping. In case you can't place her, she was the 49-year-old mother who had placed twins (conceived intentionally, through in-vitro) then took them to Canada over Christmas-- without their adopting parents' consent.

URL:

http://psyc.uno.edu/mapsproject/docs/Openness%20in%20adoption.doc

Keywords:

adoption, birthparent, openness

Abstract:

Ninety families with a non-relative, adopted infant were assessed shortly after placement (Time 1) and approximately 18 months later (Time 2). The results indicated that over two thirds of the adoptive parents did not desire to change the level of openness in their adoption at Time 2, and the desire to change the level of openness was unrelated to the current level of openness. Parents who wished to change the level of openness were more likely to report a lack of marital happiness, depression, difficulty in raising the child, and a desire for more information about the birthfather. Adoptive parents reported that the information they had about the birthparents positively influenced their perceptions of the birthparents. Implications for practitioners are discussed.

Notes:

This article is available in .doc form at the url included here.