Post Reunion Issues Law and Legal Definition
A range of feelings from estasy to despair possible after the reunion of birth relatives. Family members in reunion may feel a range of feelings including guilt, anger, jealousy, confusion or happiness that may be related to completion of the reunion process and the beginning of a process whereby family members do or do not negotiate an ongoing relationship.
Search and reunion issues arise in closed adoptions. If an adoption is truly open, the adoptee and birth family can interact and communicate at any time. In closed adoptions, communication between the families has been nonexistent. Search and reunion typically involves the adoptee and the birthparent searching for each other, contacting each other, and negotiating a reunion relationship.
