November in the United States is known as Adoption Awareness Month, with November 23rd being recognized as National Adoption Day, but it’s surprising how many Americans have never heard of it. More shocking still is the amount of people who have minimal to no knowledge of the adoption system. 

Adoption has been a practice in America for over two hundred years. The process of adoption has changed drastically from when it originated, evolving into a branched system. Two categories that may come to mind are open adoption and closed adoption, which affect the privacy level of both the birth parents and the adopting family in the process, as Planned Parenthood explains. Open adoption is the more common type of adoption. With open adoption, the two parties meet each other before the adoption takes place and stay in touch afterwards. The child is always informed of their background in these cases. Closed adoption, also called confidential adoption, gives the two families limited contact with each other, and might be chosen for more privacy.

The foster care system, although it looks similar to adoption at a glance, is in fact different. Very Well Family provides details about the legal differences between the two, as well as mentioning that while adoption is permanent, foster care is not. If a child is placed in foster care, the ultimate goal is for them to return to their birth parents eventually, if possible; with adoption, the commitment is forever.

There are many other things Americans don’t know about adoption, such as the fact that adults can be adopted, too. Adoption Network has compiled a list of similar facts and statistics.

Doing your own research is an important part of being fully aware in any situation. It’s important to stay in the know regarding today’s prevalent topics- including adoption!