The transition into adoptive parenthood: Adoption as a process of continued unsafe uncertainty when family scripts collide (original) (raw)

Understanding the Concept of Adoption: A Qualitative Analysis with Adoptees and Their Parents

The purpose of this study was to gain a better understanding of children’s and adults’ experiences with adoption. This qualitative study used individual interviews to examine 25 participants—8 adoptive mothers and fathers, and their 5- to 14-year-old sons (n=5) and daughters (n=4) adopted before 18 months. Data were collected using a phenomenological methodology and analysis of the data was guided by the following research questions: (a) What are children’s and parents’1 overall experiences with adoption? (b) What is the social construction of adoption? (c) What do children understand about the concept of adoption and how do they construct that understanding? (d) How do language and word choices influence the concept of adoption? (e) What would you like others to know about adoption? Analysis followed steps defined by Moustakas and others and revealed five interactive themes that resonated among all families (a) parents’ beliefs/experiences, (b) the need for education and change to ...

Partnering and parenting expectations in adoptive couples

Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2005

This paper describes research investigating couples who undertook the procedure of becoming adoptive parents, studying the partners’ representations of relationships in the context of their psychological sense of loss owing to infertility. The sample consisted of 100 subjects (50 couples) who took part in an assessment process related to adoption within the Social Services structures. The subjects had the following features in common: they were between 35 and 45 years of age; the duration of their marriages was between 7 and 10 years; none had biological or previously adopted children. The instruments used were a Psycho-Social Questionnaire, the Adult Attachment Interview (Main & Goldwin, 1998) and the Family Life Space (Gozzoli & Tamanza, 1998). The results showed a majority of couples classified by the AAI as ‘Secure’, and a lack of couples formed by partners both classified as ‘Insecure’. Moreover, we found a prevalence of couples who are classified by the FLS instrument as failing in ‘space government’ (Fragmentation and Overfilling = 68%). These results suggest that adoptive couples show a strong appreciation of affect and attachment needs, but are still deeply in crisis in the personal and family relationship sectors of their lives.

The experiences and narratives of adoptive parents : a constructionist family perspective

2012

The study explored the narratives of three adoptive couples. The participants were selected using criterion based convenience and snowball sampling. The adoptive couples' data was captured through written narratives and/or individual or joint semistructured interviews. The data was then analysed by means of thematic analysis conducted from the perspective of second order cybernetics. The results note the participants' experiences of their infertility threatened their functioning as a couple. However, this threat to the couples' functioning was limited by the adoptions through two means. First, the adoptions limited the couples' communication about their infertility. Second, the adoptions allowed the couples to continue functioning as a couple dedicated to the goal of becoming parents. Differences between the participant couples' experiences surrounded their interactions with social workers; their selection of support structures; their interaction with external systems; as well as their anxiety towards the individuation of the adopted child.

A Phenomenological Exploration of Parent Experiences that Influence Positive Adoption Outcomes

2018

A Phenomenological Exploration of Parent Experiences that Influence Positive Adoption Outcomes by Deena Shelton MA, Stephen F. Austin State University, 2009 BS, LeTourneau University, 2006 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Counselor Education and Supervision Walden University August 2018 Abstract Children who age out of foster care face adjustments and mental health issues at higherChildren who age out of foster care face adjustments and mental health issues at higher rates than their peers, but those who are adopted have the opportunity to heal from previous trauma and experience better outcomes. To create healthy family systems for adopted children, adoptive parents need support and guidance as they personally adjust and help their children adjust to a new family system. Previous research has focused on child identifiers rather than on the broader family system in efforts to understand adoption success and fail...

“Forever Kind of Wondering”: Communicatively Managing Uncertainty in Adoptive Families

Journal of Family Communication, 2010

This study explores the ways in which adoptees experience and manage uncertainty about their adoptive status. Grounded in the interpretive paradigm, the researchers conducted interviews with 25 adopted adults. We determined that the adoptees in this study experienced uncertainty about what their adoption means, details about their birth parents, and their adoptive parents' feelings about the birth parents. Individuals we interviewed were unmotivated, apprehensive, or unable to reduce their uncertainty. Participants reported that their adoptive parents helped them manage uncertainty by discussing the adoption story with adoptees, empowering adoptees to confront their uncertainty, and normalizing the adoption within their family. The findings of the current study extend researchers' understanding of the adoptee experience and of the communicative role of the adoptive parent.

Changing lives and changing minds: the experiences of adoptive parents from application to approval

Adoption & Fostering, 2014

The recruitment and preparation of adoptive parents is currently high on the government's agenda with a number of far-reaching changes in policy, processes and guidance having been introduced in recent months. The fundamental aim of adoption from care remains as being the provision of, hopefully, stable and loving families for children whose parents cannot care for them but the experiences of adoptive parents in this process has recently moved from the wings to centre stage. This paper introduces the reflections of a group of adoptive parents (n=27) about their experience of becoming adopters. The impact of delays in the process and experiences of the preparation and assessment period are discussed. A particular focus of the paper is on adopters' thoughts about the sorts of children they felt they could parent and how these changed in the course of their approval journey.

Using Symbolic Interactionism to Model Transitions to Adoptive Parenthood

Journal of Family Theory & Review, 2019

This article focuses on symbolic interactionism and its utility when applied to adoptive families. We argue that Mead's (1934, 1956) theoretical concepts of self, generalized other, and shared meaning are underutilized tools for exploring prospective parents' decision of whether to adopt, the transition to adoptive parenthood, and subsequent family adjustment over time. We also advocate for the extension of salience to generalized other, in order to better understand and reflect prospective parents' perspectives of and experiences with adoption. We chose symbolic interactionism as a single theoretical framework to unify the extant adoption literature; in doing so, a conceptual model was developed to better illustrate the theoretical principles as they inform decision making and action taking across the transition to adoptive family life. The model posits six specific propositions that warrant further empirical exploration to test and refine its predictive utility.

Parent perspectives on adoption preparation: Findings from the Modern Adoptive Families project

Children and Youth Services Review, 2018

Preparing prospective adoptive parents for receiving a child into their family is an important task for child and family professionals. This study uses data from the recent Modern Adoptive Families survey to understand parent perspectives on their preparation for adoption. Logistic regression (n = 917) and qualitative thematic analysis of adoptive parents' comments about their adoption preparation were conducted to understand aspects of the preparatory experience that were satisfactory (n = 623) or dissatisfactory (n = 283). Child emotional and behavioral problems significantly predicted parent dissatisfaction with adoption preparation. Major themes for satisfactory aspects of preadoption services included receiving information about adoption in general and, more specifically, about clinical and special populations, and parenting tools and strategies. In addition, parents identified opportunities to connect with others touched by adoption and access to specialized post-adoption services as helpful. Conversely, parents expressed dissatisfaction when information was lacking or withheld, when they had quality concerns with the worker or agency, and when there was a dearth of services and supports following adoption. Implications of these findings include the need for adoption mental health competent training for adoption professionals to better support families preparing for or experiencing adoption. 1.1. Parent preparation practices Article 5 of the Hague Adoption Convention, which regulates international adoption, states that adoption agencies should determine that adoptive parents are "suited to adopt" and "have been counselled [sic], as necessary", but these guidelines are not further operationalized (Hague, 1993). However, despite the importance of adoption for creating permanency for youth and these legal mandates, the preparation provided to adoptive parents is often lacking. Evidence suggests inadequate parental preparation regarding children's trauma histories and special needs. A survey of 560 adoptive families found that only about half of respondents reported receiving information about the