Adoption facts

MonaLeigh

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A baby is adopted b/c her parents died. If there is a small box of stuff belonging to the bio mother (baby's birth certificate, photos, etc.), who holds on to that box until the baby is old enough? An adoption agency? Or the adoptive parents? And at what age and what info is given out to the child about the parents?
 
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Monkey

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A baby is adopted b/c her parents died.
Usually, the baby would be placed with relatives, if possible. If not, she'd probably end up in foster care, then get adopted from there. Strangely, you can't say, "I knew that person and would like to adopt the baby she left behind when she died" without going through MUCH trouble, and it may never work out.

If there is a small box of stuff belonging to the bio mother (baby's birth certificate, photos, etc.), who holds on to that box until the baby is old enough? I believe that those would be considered the property of the child, and would be with whomever had custody of the baby. I could be wrong about that.


An adoption agency? Or the adoptive parents? And at what age and what info is given out to the child about the parents? That is completely up to whomever has custody of the child. Adoptive parents are free to divulge as much as they want whenever they see fit.

I haven't seen this exact scenario, but here's the answers so far as I know. I hope someone who knows more than I do comes along soon. :)
 

Jersey Chick

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I think the birth certificate would depend. My husband's adopted, but his birth certificate has the name my in-laws gave him, not his "birth" name. I believe a new birth certificate would be created with the adoptive name.

However, I'm not an expert. I only know this because I've seen my husband's birth cert. And he was adopted 36 years ago.
 
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Fern

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Circumstances change everything, so much of what happens will depend on your story.

My kids are adopted. The adoptive parents tell them. In our case, we told them they were adopted way before they were old enough to even know what it meant. That way it was just something they always knew and thereafter we answer questions as they are asked.

The items would be left with whomever has the baby. An exception to that might be if there was an elderly parent of the deceased who just was too old or frail to care for a baby, but took care of the child for a few days/weeks until it was adopted. She may keep the items as mementos of her own child, to be given to the baby upon her death. That is considering you had an "open" adoption.

If both her parents died, then more than likely next of kin would show up for the baby. You might have a battle between mom's side of the family and dad's side of the family. My best guess in this instance would be family members, if not them then the State would take custody, place the baby in foster care, as Monkey said, then adopt after time passed and red tape was worked through.

The adoptive parents names are on the birth certificate after the adoption is final, with no indication that the child has been adopted. Someone told me that many years ago, birth certificates of children who had been adopted had a corner snipped. I have no idea if that is true. The original certificate, however, would probably remain in the hands of whomever has the box, unless it was given to the courts for proof of baby's birth information, where it would be filed in the case (which would be sealed).
 
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JoniBGoode

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It's very common today for parents to be open with their children about their adoption, even from the age of 3 or 4 on up. Most psychologists think that this is the healthiest way to handle it, and it's also easier for the parents, because they don't have to be afraid they will be caught in a lie.
 

TrickyFiction

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I was adopted, as was my little sister. My parents were open about it. They even read us cute little children's books about adoption to be sure we were comfortable with it from the start. They had all our paperwork, including information about our biological parents. We were allowed to read about our biological parents as soon as we were able. But, our mother withheld letters written by our biological mothers (before they gave us up) until we were teenagers. She felt we had to be mature enough for those.
 
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WVWriterGirl

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I was adopted in April, 1976. I actually have two birth certificates - the first has my biological last name and "Baby Girl" and the last name of my biological mother (no father is listed). The second is in my given (adopted) name, with the name of my parents. I was adopted at four months old, and was registered with the State before I was adopted.

Also, I have a receiving blanket I was wrapped in at the hospital when I was born. It was actually my son's, when he was born. It stayed with me through the orphanage (I did not go into a foster home after birth) and managed to come with me when I was adopted by my parents.
 

Aesposito

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A baby is adopted b/c her parents died. If there is a small box of stuff belonging to the bio mother (baby's birth certificate, photos, etc.), who holds on to that box until the baby is old enough? An adoption agency? Or the adoptive parents? And at what age and what info is given out to the child about the parents?

Used to work for Illinois DCFS.... here's the scoop...

Any of the baby's belongings go with the baby to the adoptive parents. So if the small box stayed with the baby, the baby and its new parents keep it.

The agency hangs onto nothing once the new parents take over, and has no involvement in the child's life once the adoption is finalized.

It's entirely up to the adoptive parents when to give information to the child about birth parents. These days adoptive parents are encouraged to keep nothing secret, and to give out information as it seems age-appropriate.

Many states have a registry service that allows adoptive parents to find out more about birthparents, if the birthparents have given permission for that information to be released. Once a child turns 18, he/she can go through the registry on their own, without permission of the adoptive parents.

In the case of some private adoptions, the agency or attorney may also retain information on the birthparents that can be released if the child or adoptive parents request it and the birthparents signed a release.

Audrey
 

Aesposito

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Oh, and as for the birth certificate, at least in Illinois, the adoptive parents' attorney will use the original to apply for the baby's new name. The new birth certificate will list the child's new name and new parents... and the original is no longer valid or retained.

Adoptive parents sometimes get a copy of the original, sometimes not. It's a crapshoot. I have all three of my children's original birth certificates, FYI...

Audrey
 

wordtrix

The adoptive parents would be the ones, to answer your question. FYI, I have an e adoption book on booklocker.com under the family heading called "MacKenzie's Hope."