Adoptive Parents and Identity Development for Chinese Children

Summary

In 1991, the People's Republic of China passed an Adoption Law that legalized the adoption of abandoned female infants. The majority of adopted parents were from the United States, which caused a major impact on parental childrearing practices. The lack of birth information forced these adoptive parents to prepare for questions concerning the shaping of identity development and formation. Research has documented the Chinese policy changes, parents' initial adjustment to bonding, and problems with special needs. But little attention has been paid thus far to identity development. This qualitative study examines the anticipated concerns and projected strategies in addressing the lack of birth information and identity development. The study found parents focusing on creating a birth heritage, instilling pride in Chinese culture, nurturing American backgrounds, addressing the orphan identity, and coping with special needs. Practice implications for theory building, practice innovations, and new research developments are discussed.     

Single-Parent Adoptions

ABSTRACT

This Research Digest reviews recent studies of single-parent adoptions. Although there has not been much research to date, no particular problems have emerged in single-parent adoptions compared to two-parent adoptions. There is some evidence that single parents may be better able to handle more disturbed children.     

Post-adoption service need and access: Differences between international,kinship and non-kinship foster care

Post-adoption services are important to bolster a family's commitment to their adopted children, thus avoiding potential problems following adoption finalization. It is vitally important to assess post-adoption services in an effort to ensure families are provided with effective supports for successful family functioning. Few investigators have assessed service needs and access according to adoptive family type. This study focuses on international, foster care kin and foster care non-kin adoption types. Utilizing the National Survey of Adoptive Parents, this research investigated twelve post-adoption services. Two comparisons were made with respect to whether, according to the adoptive parents, post-adoption services were received or not received: 1) international and foster care non-kin adoptive families; and 2) foster care kin and foster non-kin adoptive families. International non-kin families were more likely to indicate they discussed post-adoption services than foster care non-kin families, particularly among those who were white, had adopted boys, had no other children in the home, and whose socio-economic background was lower. When comparing foster care non-kin families with kinship families, non-kin families tended to receive more desired services than kinship families, with kinship families indicating less need for services. Policy efforts and program design need to focus on reaching out to families and developing effective post-adoption services based on the expressed needs of families.     

Transnational Adoption Challenges: Through the Eyes of Eastern European Youth

Between 1990 and the early 2000s, thousands of children were adopted into families in the United States from Eastern Europe. While most adoptions are successful, some children have difficulties. This qualitative study of 26 youth between the ages of 12 and 21 who were sent by their parents to an educational alternative setting or left their adoptive home prior to completing high school were interviewed regarding their experiences of adoption. The study found that the youth were appreciative of their adoptive parents, but saw the world through a different lens due to their lived experiences. Conclusions may assist prospective adoptive parents and professionals.     

Initial Validation of the Open Adoption Scale: Measuring the Influence of Adoption Myths on Attitudes Toward Open Adoption

All adoptions, including those facilitated by public agencies, should be evaluated for openness. Although there are no national figures related to openness in public welfare, there are indications that it is not considered in all cases. Adoption myths may be one of the reasons that adoption workers do not always assess a family's ability to maintain a more open adoption arrangement. The following study is the initial validation of a multidimensional psychometric instrument developed to measure myths as they relate to open adoption. Based on a sample of 547 university students, the results indicate very good reliability and acceptable factorial and construct validity. The instrument was designed as a training and research tool to inform child welfare personnel and policy makers of the influence of adoption-related myths on child welfare adoption practice.     

Life Plans

Abstract

Life Plans were used in the rehabilitation of 28 youth transitioning from the Spital Neuropshici di Copii institution to the Neptune House group home in Siret, Romania. Life Plans, based on a structured interview, were developed to eliminate the deficit approach to rehabilitation, reduce the stigma of being institutionalized, to recognize individuals and their abilities, and to instill a sense of future in deinstitutionalized youth. The deinstitutionalization movement in Romania is monumental, and attention needs to be drawn to rehabilitation strategies such as Life Plans, that can be replicated to prepare youth to be contributing citizens of their communities.     

Open Adoptions of Children From Foster Care in New South Wales Australia: Adoption Process and Post-Adoption Contact

In Australia, adoptions from care are infrequent and mostly conducted in New South Wales (NSW) despite being legislated in other states. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the adoption process and post-adoption contact of eight foster parents adopting children in their care through the public welfare agency in NSW. The interviews were analyzed following a structured approach, by means of thematic networks. The study revealed that adoption processes and maintenance of birth family relationships depend on a number of factors (e.g., the behavior of the professionals, adoptive and birth parents, children's reactions, policy and practice contexts). However, the adoptive parents' experience of the adoption process was largely determined by the system, and in most cases this appeared to subsequently influence post-adoption connection in the families. The findings and the adoptive parents' recommendations are likely to apply beyond specific geographical jurisdictions. In addition, the reported complexities regarding connections through open adoptions at times resemble those tensions faced by children living in other family types such as those referred to in the foster care literature. Further research on some of these commonalities may expand in some countries the debate regarding adoption as an inherently contestable practice.     

Examining rates and risk factors for post-order adoption disruption in England and Wales through survival analyses

PurposeThis paper reports findings from two research studies that set out to calculate the rate and predictors of post-order adoption disruption in England and Wales.MethodsAll available national level administrative data on adopted children in England and Wales were analysed, supplemented by national surveys adoption managers. Complete national datasets were available 12 years in England and for 11 years in Wales.ResultsOf the 36,749 and 2,317 adoptions considered, 565 in England and 35 in Wales had disrupted over the follow up period. Kaplan-Meier analyses indicate that cumulative post-order adoption disruption rates were 3.2% and 2.6% respectively for England and Wales. Cox regression models indicate that being older than four years adoptive placement, adoptive parents taking longer than a year to legalise the adoption, being a teenager and previous multiple placements in care were risk factors for post-order adoption disruption.ConclusionThe post order adoption disruption rate is low. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Family Cultural Socialization,Ethnic Identity,and Self-Esteem

Abstract

Using a Web-based survey, this study of 82 adult international adoptees examined the relationship between parental support for cultural socialization and its effect on adoptees' selfesteem. Feelings of belongingness and ethnic identity were predicted to serve as mediators between the central variables. The results showed a positive relationship between cultural socialization and selfesteem, which was mediated by a feeling of belongingness and one aspect of ethnic identification (marginality) among Asianborn international adoptees. These data suggest that counselors should raise awareness and knowledge of adoptive parents about the importance of cultural continuity in the child's upbringing.     

‘Irregular Adoptions’ in Chile: New Political Narratives About The Right To Know One's Origins

This article examines the background of ‘irregular’ adoptions in Chile and the recent dispute process of political narratives about this topic, in the context of Chilean adoption policies and practices. Special focus is on how the adoption policies and practices have caused serious human rights violations in particular to the child's rights to know one's origins. The article discusses the design and implementation of recognition, justice and reparation policies, for the prevention of future risks associated with these irregular practices.     

Deciding Not to Adopt: The Role of Normative Family Ideologies in Adoption Consideration

ABSTRACT

Americans view adoption favorably, yet few consider adopting or actually adopt a child. Using qualitative data from the representative National Survey of Fertility Barriers, we explored why women who had considered adoption decided not to pursue it as a pathway to parenthood. Our sample includes responses from 1,747 women who considered adoption at some point. Seven themes emerged: prioritization of biology, economic concerns, family building prerequisites, relationship barriers, barriers to adoption, family barriers, and change of heart. Findings highlight that barriers to adoption are not always the primary reasons women opt out of adoption; normative conceptualizations of “family” are also important.     

Ethical Considerations in Adoption Research: Navigating Confidentiality and Privacy Across the Adoption Kinship Network

Abstract

Adoption research often includes multiple members of the adoption network, each of whom has distinctive perspectives. Participants may include adopted individuals and their siblings as well as adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoption professionals. Due to these multiple informants and the sensitivity of the topics explored in adoption research, researchers encounter several unique ethical concerns when working with populations impacted by adoption. The current article addresses confidentiality and privacy issues that arise when conducting adoption research. Examples from a longitudinal study on openness in adoption are provided to highlight strategies that can be used to address these issues.     

Coming to Terms with Adoption

Abstract

This article focuses on the development of personal identity of adopted individuals from adolescence into adulthood. For adopted persons, identity development involves exploration of alternative futures as well as coming to terms with the facts of one's adoption. Integration of adoption into one's overall sense of identity is discussed, as is evidence about adopted persons' construction of identity from the perspective of first-person accounts, reports from clinicians, and research on identity and adoption. A conceptual scheme regarding adoptive identity development is outlined, and implications for research and practice are discussed.     

Developmental,Familial, and Peer Deterrents to Adoption Placement

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the developmental, familial and peer deterrents that form barriers to adoption placement among teen mothers in a residential facility. An Eriksonian developmental model is used to explore developmental issues of identity, projective identification, and industry among teens. The findings suggest that family “cutoffs” and “re-admissions” also serve as deterrents to adoption placement. Additionally, peer pressure from residents of the facility form barriers to adoption placement. Teen mothers express how they were deterred from adoption placement and constrained into child-rearing as pregnancy resolution strategies. This qualitative study gives family therapy interventions as suggestions to facilitate adoption placement through addressing the constraints teen mothers face.     

MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

This article looks at print coverage of various adoption issues: adoption vs. abortion, a famous birth mother's story, revisiting Baby Richard, and the perils of internation adoption. Two prime time programs are reviewed, one drama on foster care and open adoption, the other a newsmagazine segment on failure to disclose medical problems in adopted children.     

Supply and Demand

Abstract

The adoption of infants and very young children will be affected in the future by a range of forces that affect the supply and demand sides of adoption. Demographic trends and social, technological, and economic factors bearing on adoption seeking and relinquish-ment will be critical factors. These forces will have important implications for adoption policy and practice and warrant careful consideration in relation to both infant adoption and the adoption of other children whose needs for adoptive families will continue into the future.     

Adoptees' and Birth Parents' Therapeutic Experiences Related to Adoption

ABSTRACT

This study examined adoptees' and birth parents' experiences in therapy, including the perceived level of helpfulness and preparation by therapists relating to adoption issues as a function of the year these experiences occurred. Participants consisted of 152 adoptees and 66 birth parents, with the majority (78%) of the respondents being female. Overall, adoption inquiry, addressing adoption issues, helpfulness, and preparedness by therapists increased from 1965 though the 1990s. Therapists who inquired about adoption (54%) or addressed adoption (72%) were perceived as being significantly more prepared and helpful compared to those therapists who did not inquire about or address adoption issues.     

Interactive Media for Child Care and Counselling: New Resources,New Opportunities

SUMMARY

A familiar children's story in the UK–Bruce's Story, about the adventures of a puppy moving into the unknown world as he grows up–is converted into a multimedia program designed to help children in out of home care talk (or write) about their own experiences coming into the child welfare system and into foster and adoptive families.     

Descriptive Analysis of Foster Care Adoptions in New South Wales,Australia

This paper describes the population of children in care in New South Wales, Australia, who were adopted by their foster families (N?=?372) from 2003 to 2014. Data pertaining to 370 of these adoptees were available and obtained from administrative records accompanying adoption applications. Most of these children had been placed with their subsequent adoptive family during infancy. However, adoption orders occurred much later in their lives. According to the available information at the time of adoption, these children did not suffer the high levels of mental health problems typically identified in populations of children in foster care. Though the data do not include follow-up to determine if the contact agreed upon at the time of adoption orders translated into practice, the most frequently postadoption arrangement recorded was face-to-face contact, four times a year with mother and siblings. The high levels of openness and face-to-face contact in Australian adoptions from care are a significant point of difference with other adoption models, and presents a need for research in the area.

IMPLICATIONS

• Following the change of legislation in New South Wales, Australia, that prioritises open adoption over foster care, social workers in the field of child protection are well placed to assist in this process.

• Social workers can assess children entering care to identify those who will benefit from adoption in a timely manner; undertake casework and administrative aspects of the adoption process; work closely with the child, and birth and adoptive families by delivering pre- and post-adoption supports; and conduct longitudinal research on the outcomes for children adopted from care.