Openness and contact in foster care adoptions: An eight-year follow-up

This study examines openness and contact in 231 foster care adoptions from the California Long-Range Adoption Study (CLAS), an eight-year prospective longitudinal study. Data were collected using three waves of mailed questio nnaires completed by the adoptive parent. Findings indicate that while the practice of openness continues to evolve for most families, there is remark able stability in levels of contact and communication with the child's biol ogical family, especially in the last four years of the study.