Post-Adoption Contact Agreements
What you need to know about these written agreements between placing and adopting parents: What they are, why you might want to make one, how to make one, and legal considerations.
Part 1: What Are They?
Post-adoption contact agreements (also known as post-adoption communication agreements) are written contractual agreements between placing and adopting parents that detail how and when contact and communication will be handled following finalization of the adoption. These agreements are generally:
- governed by "best interest of the child" standards;
- prepared prior to finalization of the adoption;
- prepared and negotiated with the assistance of a mediator;
- flexible to allow for future change;
- appropriate for infant or older child adoptions.
Agreements may be expanded to include certain birth family members (grandparents, siblings, etc.), may or may not be time-limited, may or may not be legally recognized and/or enforceable. While many agencies, attorneys, and individuals often make verbal commitments to participate in or assist with post-adoption contact, the agreements referenced here are written and negotiated cooperatively by placing and adopting parents. These adoptions are generally known as cooperative adoptions and involve voluntary relinquishment of parental rights on the part of the placing parent(s). It should not be presumed that these agreements are easy - either to write or to maintain, and they should not be entered into lightly. They are not more binding on one party than the other: both parties are committing themselves to the child and his/her future.
See Glossary definitions:
· Cooperative Adoption
· Relinquishment
Part 2: Why Make One?
Adoptive and birth families, adoption professionals, jurists, and policy makers are increasingly noting the positive effects of openness in adoption, openness not only among the adults, but that includes the adopted child. Post-adoption contact agreements serve as the written commitment to the children.
Benefits to Families Every situation is unique and each party will have individual goals for the agreement, but the primary benefit is that all parents are making a commitment to the child. The actual process of writing the agreement can help all parties come to appreciate each others' strengths, dispel fears about each party's role in the child's life, and reassure all parties that the adoption will be a solid, lifetime commitment. For parents of children in foster care who have been reluctant to move ahead with adoption because they fear losing contact, or who do not want to face involuntary termination of their parental rights, a mediated post-adoption contact agreement can ease their fears on both issues, and allow their participation in the placement. While the agreement may or may not be legally recognized and/or enforceable (see Part 4: Legalities), the very existence of a written document, prepared with respect and centered on the child, can serve as a reminder of this commitment, and encourage families to work through problems that may arise. Children learn from their parents and this example of accountability and unconditional commitment to family is an important lesson.
Benefits to Adoption Professionals Agencies and attorneys offering mediation services for the preparation and maintenance of post-adoption contact agreements can benefit from greater client confidence - both placing and adopting parents, and see the results in more successful placements benefitting the child. For public agencies seeking permanency for children in foster care, mediated agreements can help parents who want permanency for their children but fear losing complete contact and/or their child's loss of contact with siblings and/or other birth family members. Resulting benefits can include shorter stays in foster care, and more successful placements for the children. Time in court proceedings is also shortened considerably with the change from involuntary termination to voluntary relinquishment.
Benefits to Adoption Practices As more adoption professionals offer mediation services for the preparation and maintenance of post-adoption contact agreements, more pre-adoption education for placing and adopting parents will be necessary - something that can only benefit everyone involved, most critically the children.
See Glossary definition:
· Termination of Parental Rights
Part 3: How to Make One
There are basically four types of adoptions:
- Confidential adoptions (closed) - no exchange of information between birth and adoptive families post-placement;
- Time-limited mediated adoptions (semi-open) - information exchanged by an agency caseworker or third party for a specific period following the adoption at the end of which, information exchanges stop;
- Ongoing mediated adoptions (semi-open) - information exchanges are mediated by an agency or third party on an ongoing basis, and
- Fully disclosed adoptions (open) - direct sharing of information between adoptive and birth family member(s), usually accompanied by face-to-face meetings.
- wording of post-adoption agreements be specific;
- both parties should be as honest as possible about their desires and expectations;
- mediation services are encouraged, both when the agreement is formulated, and post-adoption in the event of a desire to change the terms or conflict;
- some agreements may include members of the extended birth family (i.e., grandparents) or others, depending on prior contact, if it's considered adviseable for the well-being of the child;
- all parties remember that flexibility is key in meeting a child's needs.
One of the best resources for a description of how an agreement can be formulated is the State of Oregon, Office for Services to Children and Families. While this document describes mediation in termination cases, the consideration of the child's best interest, the value of openness, cooperation between placing and adopting parents, and specific issues are comprehensive in scope and can be adapted to agreements in other types of adoption.
See Glossary definitions:
· Closed Adoption
· Open Adoption
· Semi-Open Adoption
Part 4: Legalities
While the debate over whether or not post-adoption contact agreements should be legally recognized and enforceable - and how - goes on, approximately 18 states have some sort of provision ranging from visitation agreements in adoptions from foster care (not to be confused with court-ordered visitation in foster and step families), to agreements in cases of kinship adoption, to full recognition and enforcement of mediated agreements. (Statutes are pending in several other states.) According to Joan Hollinger, Visiting Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, and a leading American scholar on the legal and psychosocial aspects of adoptive family relationships, these statutes share some important elements:
- The validity of adoptions may not be challenged for failure to comply with an agreement for visitation or communication.
- The statutes provide, or courts have construed them to provide, for a separate civil action to enforce or modify the agreements until the child's 18th birthday.
- They do not authorize courts to impose post-adoption contact on anyone over their objection; the adoptive parents and the child, if over the age of 12 or 14, must request or agree to maintain contact with the child's birth parent - or, in some cases, a sibling, grandparent or other relative.
- The "best interests of the child" standard is supposed to govern judicial decisions to approve, modify or enforce post-adoption contact agreements.
Outside State Statutes
As openness becomes more accepted and recognized as desirable in many instances, placing and adopting parents may also choose to formulate written agreements between themselves, even in states where these are not legally recognized or enforceable. For many, this may be an important part of their open adoption intentions and a means of building and maintaining trust and commitment among extended family members. Adoption counseling professionals may make themselves available to assist in preparing these agreements, as well as to provide mediation services along the way.
Additional Reading:
© Nancy S Ashe
