Who are we?

The Adoption Option Trust was launched on June 20th 2007 by a group wanting to improve the awareness of current adoption practice in New Zealand. The Government is responsible for adoptions through the Child Youth and Family Adoptions Information and Services Unit. However, this unit has not had the funds to promote its services or produced material aimed at educating the public about adoption. The numbers of non inter-family adoptions i.e. not step-parents adopting children, has dropped dramatically in the last decade.

Our research has shown that because adoption is rare few people know how it happens and they have little understanding of the difference between open and closed adoption. The majority of current adoptions are open, where the birth families choose the adoptive family and remain in contact with the child. Research indicates that adoptees who have knowledge of, and a relationship with, both birth and adoptive parents have a greater sense of wholeness than those who were adopted under the closed system. Open adoption has been shown to offer a positive outcome for an unplanned and unwanted pregnancy.

The Trust’s aims are to:

• promote adoption as a positive choice for people facing a crisis pregnancy.

• educate the public in New Zealand about current practices in domestic adoption, especially open adoption.

• work cooperatively whenever possible, with others in the adoption field and in pregnancy counselling.