ABSTRACT
The understanding that maintaining family ties is important for the adopted person’s sense of self is increasingly influencing the practices of the public foster-adoption system. The adoption of children via the public child welfare system is very different from the adoption of newborns via agencies or attorneys. This chapter will examine some of those differences, and take a look at openness in the public system through the lens of several innovative programs. Finally, two families, each with three children adopted through the foster-adoption programs, describe the ways they have addressed the unique challenges of maintaining family ties with birth families.
