Adoptive couples: Communication and changes made in openness levels

The communication facility component of the Clinical Rating (CRS), based on the Circumplex Model of Marital and Family Systems (Olson, 1993), was employed to compare a group of adoptive couples that had increased their level of adoption openness from mediated to fully disclosed with a group that remained in mediated arrangements. Couples with increased levels of openness demonstrated significantly higher levels of self-disclosure, listener's skills, empathy, continuity/tracking, respect and regard, and global communication facility than couples in the mediated group. Groups did not differ significantly in speaker's skills. Case studies illustrative of these findings and implications for professionals working with families are provided.