Open adoption is when an adoption occurs with no secrecy, the child can know who their birth parents are and the birth parents have the right to keep in contact with the child. It can be compared to closed adoption practices of the twentieth century and the effects these had on many people involved in adoption.
From the mid 1980s, adoption legislation in Australian jurisdictions was amended to reflect the shifting attitudes towards adoption and the acknowledgement of the harm caused by secrecy and closed adoptions.
In an open adoption, the child has a right:
The parent who consents to the adoption of their child has ‘an opportunity to be actively involved’ in the legal and other processes of the adoption.
The Western Australian Department for Child Protection and Family Support’s guide for step-parents who are considering adoption explains the difference between open and closed adoption:
In the past it was thought that secrecy was in the best interest of all parties to adoption. However over the years, these secrecy provisions have caused a lot of distress to those affected by adoption. Extensive research found that many adopted people want to know about their original family heritage without necessarily affecting the close relationship with their adoptive family. Adoptive families, it has been found, often lived under the strain caused by the pretence and secrecy they felt compelled to maintain.
Victoria’s Adoption Act 1984 was a significant shift in policy and the first Australian act to enshrine a child’s right to access information about his or her family of origin.