Some theoretical considerations on confidential adoptions,part I: The birth mother

In all cases of newborn adoption where placement is made directly into the permanent adoptive home, the adoptive parents become the psychological parents for that child. While birth parents give the gift of birth, they do not experience the developmental process of being a parent because in reality they are emotionally unprepared for this responsibility. We discuss the clinical meaning of a voluntary termination of parental rights, the appropriate grieving of the real narcissistic loss of the baby, and the meaning of adoption for a birth parent.There is a new trend in the field of child welfare toward openness in adoption which purports to change traditional confidential adoptions. We discuss the crucial aspects of the intrapsychic difference for a birth parent experiencing an open or confidential adoption.This paper was presented to the National Committee for Adoption, Convention, October, 1982: the First International Conference on Pediatric Social Work, August, 1982 and to the Child Care Association of Illinois Convention, April, 1982. All authors have the M.A. degreeThis paper is the first of a four-part series to appear in this journal