Open adoption relationships, like all relationships, change and
evolve as birth parents, adopted people, and families reach different stages in their lives.
Many of the AP practices were things we already planned on doing — such
as natural
birth and extended breastfeeding — and others
evolved naturally once we became
parents, including cosleeping, babywearing and gentle discipline.
Thinking of family law dispute resolution
as family restructuring rather than family breakdown allows «family» to be treated
as an organic whole that changes and
evolves over time
as new family members are added through
birth, adoption, marriage and remarriage;
as parents separate and the family transitions into new domestic arrangements; and,
as existing family members are subtracted through abandonment, estrangement and death.