"I learned that family is the most important thing we have in life and it is comprised of more than our DNA."

I attended an adoption conference. For the first session, I chose “Adoption Reunions.” Really… can you ever hear enough adoption reunion stories? As I took my seat in the second row, I couldn’t figure out the dynamics of the panel in front of me. Two younger women, two older women and an older man. As the session started, they were introduced… adoptee, birth mom, adoptive mom, birth mom’s husband, and birth mom’s daughter. Hold on… husband of the birth mom?

I never dreamt that we could place a baby for adoption and still get to be a part of their life. Making the first of several major decisions, my boyfriend and I jumped right into counseling sessions...

A guest writer from Healthline.com shares some of the long-term benefits of open adoption.

"I thought my life was over, but little did I know, it was just beginning." #BraveLove

While a birthmother’s experience after placement may be different in open versus closed adoptions, the process leading to the choice of adoption is much more likely to follow the same thread – love.

I think another reward would be that having an open adoption has made us more open about telling our son. We've told him since day one that he was in our arms that he was adopted, even though he obviously couldn't understand at two days old. We still talk about it all the time and answer his questions and dispel his fears.

"The four of us are family now, knitted together because of this precious child." #BraveLove

My attitudes toward adoption started many years ago, over fifty, actually. Rosanne and I were like sisters. We attended the same high school, and were in each other’s weddings. In those days of hush-hush adoptions, her mother, my aunt, never spoke of how she came into our family, but I didn’t care. As a child, I can remember thinking how wonderful adoption must be because without it we wouldn’t have had Rosanne.