The adoption process has changed dramatically over the past three decades. 1850 marked the year that the United States introduced adoption laws and regulations. Starting in the late 1970s, couples began to prefer open adoptions, which meant that the whereabouts of the child were not kept secret from the biological parent. By the late 1990s, most adoption agencies believed open adoption was necessary. After the turn of the century, open adoptions continued to evolve into increasingly positive relationships between adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth parents. While many types of adoption still exist, for the purposes of this article, we will focus on how open adoption and microsystems-level interactions impact adolescent adjustments by examining three television sitcoms spanning from the 1980s to 2014. In the theory of ecological systems, Brofenbrenner postulates that to fully understand development it is necessary to take the entire ecological system into consideration. Each level of the system offers a wide range of options and sources of growth. The microsystem level – on which we will focus – contains structures with which the child has direct contact. It embodies the relationships and interactions the child has with the surrounding environment such as family, school, neighbors and child care environments. Two-way relationships tend to have the strongest influence, meaning that interactions have an impact in two directions, both towards the individual and away. The microsystem provides the initial set of interrelationships that a child has and provides the foundation for developing trust with significant others. For this reason, adopting po...... middle of paper...... the fact that they are gay and Lily is their adopted daughter at an early age, therefore using conversation rather than conformity as a tactic to deal with the adoption questions. They avoided family communication patterns such as protective, laissez-faire types that would put Lily at risk for having adjustment problems. From examining the three separate families of Diff'rent Strokes, Sex and The City, and Modern Family, we can surmise that the microsystem – particularly the family – plays a central role in adolescent adaptation and furthers our understanding of adopted adolescent adaptation. It is critical that adoptive parents are open to communicating with the child about their adoption and are sensitive to the stress the child may face when experiencing an ecological transition. Maintaining an open, honest, and stimulating environment is essential to avoiding serious adjustment problems.