Openness in Adoption and the Impact on Birth Mother Plans for Search and Reunion

This article addresses the attitudes of 125 birth mothers about their roles in their birth children's lives, 12 to 20 years postplacement. As part of a longitudinal study on adoption openness, decision-making is explored for birth mothers who maintained direct contact with the adoptive family, for those with ongoing mediated contact, mediated contact that had stopped, and those without contact. Analyses also were conducted to determine if birth...