In a Pit thread, I hijacked (sorry!) a thread about anti-adoption activists to talk about adoption in Islam. In general, adoption is frowned upon in cases where ties to the birth family are severed. Adopted children are only entitled to inherit property from their birth families, and must keep their birth parents’ name. This means that in the former closed-adoption system in the West, devout Muslims were barred from adopting children. With the new wave of open adoption, this is no longer the case.
But what about children in foster care? racinchikki gave me some insight into her parents’ experience as foster parents in New York State, but I’d like to hear from people in other states/countries or with other agencies. How common is open adoption in foster care cases? I had assumed that it wouldn’t be, since I thought that parents whose children had been taken away from them wouldn’t be likely to participate in adopting them out. Racinchikki’s post made me consider something I’d ignored - agencies might feel obligated to keep kids in touch with their birth parents out of the belief that “blood is best”.
Any more info? Inquiring minds want to know.