For a while now, there have been conversations regarding the prospect of 'open adoption' to become the norm within the UK. Open adoption is whereby both the adoptive parents and birth parents have access to some from of information regarding each other's details, and there is an option of contact. Whether this remains solely between the birth parents and adoptive parents to provide periodical updates, or directly with the adopted child to maintain a positive relationship.
Currently within UK law, once a child is legally adopted, the birth parents no longer have any parental rights or responsibility for the child, often meaning that they no longer have the opportunity to receive updates or keep in contact with their child at all. This can be very emotionally painful for the birth parent, but also potentially creates lots of questions for the child as they grow older and can leave them feeling confused or conflicted regarding their sense of identity.
In some cases, the court can order that the child has some form of contact with their birth family, whether that be parents, siblings or grandparents. However this is still rare within the UK.
It is worth noting that, despite speculation, according to research in America in 2007, there has been no correlation found between low levels of self-esteem and those who are adopted when compared with non-adopted people. Could this be down to building up higher levels of resilience in early childhood, having additional support of services as an adoptive family, or from an early understanding of their birth family and identity through open adoption?
There are many complex factors to consider, but it certainly begs the question - Is it time for the UK to look more at open adoptions (when it is safe and appropriate to do so), rather than automatically cutting all ties with birth families?