Our 18-year-old niece is newly pregnant, and has asked my wife and I to adopt her unborn baby. She says she is not ready to be a mom, but she doesn’t think she can have an abortion, either. We already have a son (we are his birthparents) who is five, and we have been considering adopting a second child.
Every family is different, so I won’t lay it all out, but basically everyone gets along well enough, although we are not all that close; our niece has told her (divorced) parents her situation. They are unenthusiastic, but not really opposed.
What are the pitfalls of an adoption like this? How hard (or perhaps great) do you think it would be for everyone to have us raising this child? No one’s identity would be a secret. . .
No related posts.
I’m sorry I don’t have direct advice, as our open adoption is not in the family (well we consider each other family now).
I wanted to at least say hello though
There was some good insight given in the responses to a similar question awhile ago. It might be worth starting there.
http://www.openadoptionsupport.com/2008/09/old356/
First, I would encourage your niece to really explore whether adoption is the right thing for her and her child.
If she comes to the conclusion that it is, then the question is is a kinship adoption the right thing.
My son is biologically my nephew. It adds a level of complication that I didn’t have with my oldest child’s open adoption. The biggest one I have come up against is that other members of the family are often in the middle of the whole thing, making whatever issues harder to work out because there are more feelings to consider than just the usual feelings from members of the triad.
It really depends on the situation, and how well your family does navigating new territory and uncomfortable situations.