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2000-2001 Annual Report

The fiscal year 2000/2001 was a banner year at Open Adoption & Family Services, Inc. We reconnected with families who adopted 10-16 years ago in order to learn from their experiences. For the first time, we heard the emerging voices of our graduates: the children of open adoption. We also employed new marketing strategies to educate the public about open adoption and to reach even more birthparents.

Building an Open Adoption Community Project
The "Building an Open Adoption Community" project began with the distribution in March of an adoptive parent survey to 601 families who adopted from 1985 to 2001. Forty-nine percent (297) of surveys were completed and returned. Please see page 3 for survey results. History was made on Saturday, June 23 when the first OA&sFS Adoptive Parent Symposium was conducted. Total attendance was more than 100 adults, teenagers and children. We will publish the first OA&sFS yearbook in which children and their open adoption families are depicted. The final phase of the project, the Lifegivers Festival, a retreat for birthmothers will be held May 16-19, 2002.

Outreach and Marketing
Outreach and marketing efforts to reach birthparents were expanded in several ways. A radio public service advertising campaign was implemented on two Portland stations and one Seattle station. Six OA&sFS birthmothers were interviewed at a recording studio to create the montage-style commercial.Extensive outreach in the Medford area resulted in a tremendous increase in calls from birthparents in Southern Oregon. In response to the increase in calls, an OA&sFS office was opened in January. The Seattle office moved to a larger location in February and the staff of two counselor/mediators was expanded to include an outreach coordinator and an administrative assistant.Many women tell us they would choose open adoption if they had current information about how adoption has changed. To address the concerns of these women, a new brochure with the theme, "I needed another option. And I found it." was created. The brochure makes the reality of open adoption clearer by depicting the developing relationship of a birthmother, her child and the adoptive family over a nine-year period. Quotations and photos from this birthparent and others help illustrate the benefits of open adoption. The brochure will be distributed to nearly 1,600 social service workers, medical professionals, teachers and faith leaders.The OA&sFS yellow pages ad was redesigned to complement the radio campaign and the new birthparent brochure.OA&sFS adoptive parents, birthparents and adoptees were featured in several media sources. Articles appeared in the following newspapers and magazines: the Oregonian, Seventeen Magazine, the Eugene Register-Guard, the Ashland Daily Tidings and the Portland Hollywood Star. Interviews were broadcast on the "AM Northwest" show of KATU-TV in Portland and "Morning Edition" on National Public Radio.We welcomed 52 newborns and infants to the OA&sFS family this year. We look forward to these children and their parents becoming members of our burgeoning "Open Adoption Community."

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The Year in Review

Total placements	52
Girls	22
Boys	30
Racial/ethnic background of children
African American	1
Asian	1
Caucasian	36
Hispanic	1
Mixed/bi-racial heritage	13
Age of children at placement
Newborn	46
1 week to 4 months	5
18 months	1
Other
Avg. age of adoptive parents	38
Avg. age of birthmother	23
Avg. age of birthfathers	28
Percentage of birthfathers involved	37
Average visits per year	3
Families who adopted for 2nd time through OA&sFS	3
Services
Calls from birthparents	292
Calls from adoptive parents	636

Thank You Volunteers!!

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Adoptive Parent Survey

As part of the "Building an Adoption Community" project, a survey to adoptive parents was distributed in February 2001. Forty-nine percent (297) of the 601 surveys were completed and returned. Fifteen percent of OA&sFS families have adopted more than once through the agency. In June of 2000, Open Adoption & Family Services released the following results:

Demographics:

• 70% of the families reside in Oregon, 22% in Washington and 8% in other states. 52% of the children are female and 48% are male.95% of the children were newborns.
• 21.4% of the adoptions were transracial.

Other results:

• 64% of respondents reported that their adoption fears decreased over time. More than half (53%) of the families had three or more visits in the last two years.
• 72% of respondents began talking to their child about adoption before age 2.

Respondents were asked to describe their feelings on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very positive. How would you describe your experience with OA&sFS at the time of the adoption?
Nine out of 10 responded very positively. How would you describe how your extended family relates to your adopted child?
Nearly 100% responded very positively.

Factors influencing satisfaction:

• Families who had regular visits and letters, email and phone calls with the birthparents reported a higher level of satisfaction with their overall adoption experience.
• Letters, email and/or phone calls also increased their satisfaction with the birth family.

On a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 meaning strongly agree, respondents were asked to indicate whether they agreed with the following statements:

% strongly agreeing
We do not feel jealous when the birth family spends time with our child.	79
We frequently speak positively about the birthmother with our child.	73
We expect our child's birthmother to consistently make good choices.	73
We would continue to reach out to our child's birthparents even if they were unresponsive.	65
We are comfortable telling our open adoption story.	94
We do not schedule visits with our child's birth family because we feel obligated.	62
We do not continue to feel grief about not having a biological child.	91

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Fears and Facts about Open Adoption

The following information was developed for the packet of information that is sent to prospective adoptive parents.

Fear: I'll feel jealous of the birthmother if she is in our lives.
Fact: In a recent OA&sFS survey, eight out of 10 respondents reported they did not feel jealous of their child's birthmother.

Fear: Having contact with the birth family will be an intrusion on my family.
Fact: In a recent OA&sFS survey, families that had regular contact with the birth family reported a higher level of satisfaction with their adoptions.

Fear: The birthmother is more likely to change her mind if she does an open adoption.
Fact: Only 10% of birth parents who placed their children through OA&sFS change their minds after they have chosen adoptive parents. Nationally, 20% change their minds.

Fear: There are no boundaries in an open adoption. The birthparents will visit whenever they want.
Fact: Adoptive parents and birthparents create an open adoption agreement, an individualized plan that outlines in advance the number of ongoing visits, and the exchange of letters and photos.

Fear: If I adopt, I'll continue to feel grief about not having a biological child.
Fact: In a recent OA&sFS survey, nine out of 10 adoptive parents reported they did not continue to feel infertility-related grief after their adoptions.

Fear: Ongoing contact will only benefit the birthmother.
Fact: A national study (Grotevant & McRoy, 1998) found that adoptive parents benefit most in open adoptions because they feel more in control of the birthparents' involvement than adoptive parents in closed adoptions.

Fear: In an open adoption, my extended family will be less welcoming of my child.
Fact: Nearly 100% of OA&sFS adoptive parents who responded to a recent survey reported that their extended families relate very positively to their adopted children.

Fear: I am afraid open adoption will be confusing for my child.
Fact: We have learned from closed adoption that secrecy confuses children. Children benefit from access to open, honest information. In an open adoption, the roles of the adoptive parents and the birthparents are separate and clearly defined.

Fear: When my child is a teenager, he/she will want to live with his birthparents.
Fact: This is less likely to happen when children know their birthparents. They have no fantasies about their birthparents. Children of open adoption bond with their adoptive parents just as strongly as children who are raised by their biological parents.

Fear: I'm afraid the birthmother will try to undermine my relationship with my child.
Fact: In an open adoption, the birthmother's role is to support the adoptive parents as the child's parents. The birthmother does not compete with the adoptive parents.