Age at placement and adult adopted people's experience of being adopted

Older age at placement has long been recognized as a risk factor in successful adoption outcomes. The findings of the present study emerged as part of a larger study that looked at the adoption experiences and reunion outcomes of 472 adults who had either searched for or been sought by one or more of their birth relatives. As part of the investigation, adopted adults were asked to evaluate their adoption experience. Age at placement was used as a key variable in examining whether or not adopted people felt different to their adoptive family, felt they belonged in their adoptive family, and felt loved by their adoptive parents while growing up. Respondents were also asked to evaluate their overall experience of being adopted. Older age at placement significantly increased the risk of adopted people viewing major aspects of their adoption experience with either mixed or negative feelings.     

Becoming mother and father in late adoption: a case study

Adoption in Brazil has long been related to practices of not disclosing the child's history and origins, which become a family secret. As a consequence, most couples who apply for adoption prefer newborns. Late adoption is still an uncommon practice and requires a 'family project' which accepts a different family model, new meanings of motherhood and fatherhood, and different ways of building affectionate bonds. It is important to investigate how a man and a woman become parents under those circumstances. This study aimed to follow up the emergence of adoption, motherhood and fatherhood meanings, in the discursive practices involved in the construction of adoptive parenthood in the Brazilian setting. This paper presents important meanings regarding parenthood produced by a couple who adopted two sisters, aged 4 and 5 years. Analysis revealed that to better understand the late adoption process, the meanings that emerge in the discursive practices should be considered. Those meanings pervade and circumscribe the family relationships, influencing how the individuals constitute their roles in the family. It is through the analysis of this dialogical process of construction that it is possible to identify the challenges in late adoption and to unravel the process of constructing affectionate relationships.     

The Long-term Outcome of Reunions Between Adult Adopted People and their Birth Mothers

Summary Increasing numbers of adult adopted people are searching forand having reunions with their birth relatives. Although a growingnumber of studies now exist that have looked at the search andreunion process, few have examined reunion outcomes over thelong term. The present study investigated the experiences of48 adult adopted people who first had contact with their birthmothers at least eight years prior to the survey. Outcomes wereexamined in terms of the adopted person's evaluation of theirown adoption experience, and the frequency of contact, if any,currently occurring between the adopted person and their adoptiveand birth mothers. Although over half of adopted people werestill in contact with their birth mother eight years or morepost reunion, the number still in touch with their adoptivemothers was higher still. Furthermore, of those still in contactwith both their adoptive and birth mothers, the frequency ofcontact was more likely to be higher with the adoptive motherthan with the birth mother. The results are discussed in termsof the search for identity, filial relationships, genetic relatednessand affectional bonds formed during childhood.     

On hope,loss, anger,and the spaces in between: Reflections on living with/in adoption and the role of the social worker

This article explores the findings of a study on the role of the social worker in adoption with a focus on ethics, concentrating on the perspectives of adopted people, birth parents, and adoptive parents. Their reflections challenge policy attempts that are framed around “new beginnings” for children. The focus on hope in such policy projects fails to understand that hope inevitably coexists with anger and loss. The concept of ethical trespass, with its recognition of the inevitability of harm, is explored in terms of its possibilities for recognizing the lived realities for multiple stakeholders. The mitigation of ethical trespass requires social work practices that are characterized by humility, honesty, and reflexivity.     

Names and naming in adoption: Birth heritage and family‐making

In this article, we consider the significance and practices of names and naming in adoption to develop understanding of the issue amongst scholars, policymakers, adoption practitioners, and adoption communities. Research on the topic of names and adoption is scarce and focused mostly on international and domestic adoptions in the United States. We draw on the research literature to critically explore names and naming in adoption through two recurrent and related themes. The first is “birth heritage,” where names, forenames especially, are shown to be important in the approach taken by adopters to their child's birth family and cultural identity. The second theme is “family‐making,” where namesaking and homogeneity of surname emerge, amongst others, as strategies to create, sustain, and display “family.” In gathering together for the first time an otherwise scattered, disparate body of research, our article showcases names and naming as illuminating distillations of key contemporary challenges experienced by families formed through adoption. We conclude our article by considering emergent gaps in existing knowledge and understanding about names, naming, and adoption that might usefully be addressed, to inform professional advice and familial decisions about names, and enhance outcomes for adoptees and their families.     

Malaysian researchers talk about the influence of culture on research misconduct in higher learning institutions

Based on a previous survey by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the USA, a considerable number of foreign research scientists have been found guilty of research misconduct. However, it remains unclear as to whether or not cultural factors really contribute to research misconduct. This study is based on a series of interviews with Malaysian researchers from the local universities regarding their own professional experiences involving working with researchers or research students from different countries or of different nationalities. Most of the researchers interviewed agreed that cultures do shape individual character, which influences the way that such individuals conduct research, their decision-making, and their style of academic writing. Our findings also showed that working culture within the institution also influences research practices, as well as faculty mentorship of the younger generation of researchers. Given the fact such misconduct might be due to a lack of understanding of research or working cultures or practices within the institution, the impact on the scientific community and on society could be destructive. Therefore, it is suggested that the institution has an important role to play in orienting foreign researchers through training, mentoring, and discussion with regard to the “does” and “don’ts” related to research, and to provide them with an awareness of the importance of ethics when it comes to conducting research.     

Anticipated Engagement in a Village Organization for Aging in Place

Although older adults prefer maintaining residence independently in the community as they grow older it is not always possible due to impairments, isolation, and changing health needs. Villages, an emerging consumer-directed care model providing social engagement and services, support aging in place. To be viable organizations villages must attract and enroll sufficient numbers of members. This study examined factors associated with older adults anticipated engagement as a village member. Using a cross-sectional survey design community residing older adults (N?=?193) identified predisposing, enabling, and need factors associated with anticipated engagement. Participants rated anticipated engagement between “Slightly Unlikely” and “Likely” (Mean?=?2.71, SD?=?1.31). A model including predisposing and enabling factors produced the best overall fit [?2 Log likelihood?=?246.514, χ2(8)?=?20.414, p.?=?.008] correctly classifying 61.1% of cases and explaining 13.4% of the variance according to the Nagelkerke R² statistic. Older adults who engage in preventative health behaviors may be predisposed to joining a village as well as those who are already engaging in supportive acts of neighboring. Villages might consider these factors in designing outreach and service programing. Future research should identify how factors such as income and personal health practices contribute to interest in village membership.     

Probation Partnerships, Voluntary Action and Community Justice

Having been offered — and prepared to accept — a “centre-stage”role in the operation of the criminal justice system as recently as 1991, the Probation Service in England and Wales seems increasingly to be marginalized by politicians who, in a more punitive climate, have changed their minds about what is expected of it. As a probation spokesperson has recently said: “the big vision has gone”. One strand of policy which the Probation Service was expected to develop in 1991 was increased partnership with voluntary organizations, but, although progress has been made, it is a policy about which the Service has been very ambivalent, fearing that it may lead in the longer term to privatization of their work. This paper will outline the origins and implications of the policy, note how some local Services have so far responded to it, and suggest that, if pursued in certain fields of activity, partnership could contain an alternative vision to the one that has been lost.     

What is a family? Constructions of family and parenting after a custody transfer from birth parents to foster parents

The subject of stability for children in long‐term foster care is an emerging field within social work with vulnerable children. In Sweden, the adoption of foster children is not a common occurrence. Instead, when a child has been placed in foster care for 3 years, the local social welfare committee will consider whether the custody of the child should be transferred to the foster parents regardless of the circumstances of the birth parents, in order to secure stability and a sense of family belonging. Consequently, custody transfers raise questions such as “who is family?” and “who is a parent?” This qualitative interview study with custodians and young people who have experienced custody transfer highlights that who counts as family and as a parent is ambiguous. This article draws attention to how negotiations about family and parenthood revolve around biological, emotional, and relational dimensions. Furthermore, we show that stability for children in care has to be understood in terms of processes over time and not as the result of a single decision of custody transfer. Consequently, social workers need to take several aspects into account when they assess family belonging and stability for children in foster care.     

The reasons why young children are placed for adoption: findings from a recently placed sample and a discussion of implications for subsequent identity development

It is widely accepted that the processing of identity issues can be problematic for some adopted children. Needing to know why placement for adoption was necessary is often central to adopted people’s identity concerns. Adoption practices have altered and children are now placed for adoption for different reasons and from different backgrounds than were children in the past. This study aims to present an up to date picture of the reasons why children are placed for adoption. Using information from questionnaires completed by social workers, the circumstances of a sample of 168 young (mean age at placement = 18 months), recently adopted children are examined. Children fall into three groups according to the reason for their adoption: relinquished infants (14%), those whose parents had requested adoption in complex circumstances (24%), and those children required to be adopted by social services and the courts (62%). Child and birthparent characteristics and openness arrangements are examined and are found to differ significantly between the three groups, indicating that children will have different types of information to appraise and differing capacities to make sense of their personal histories. Because of the multiplicity of difficulties in children’s backgrounds, it is concluded that resolving identity issues is likely to be challenging for many children, and professionals will need to take this into account when working with adopters and birth relatives.     

Measuring Support Provisions for People Living With Disabilities in South Asia: An Accessibility Index

ABSTRACT

The terms “empowerment,” “rights,” and “inclusiveness” are now commonly used in public policy, but little emphasis is placed on “accessibility” issues in the integration of disabled people. This article proposes a composite index to measure economic support provisions, such as employment, vocational training, microfinance, and safety nets. The index was tested in a case study (N= 245) of two districts in Pakistan. Results support a “cost/benefit”-based philosophy, rather than the “means–ends” goal, where the disabled poor are viewed as unproductive and risky payers, instead of giving them an opportunity to exercise their potential. Change for the disadvantaged poor can be brought about with the mandatory use of this index in local annual audits. Future research might examine the impact of the index and standardize it for global use.     

The therapeutic misconception,beneficence, and respect

In order to provide benefits to society, human medical trials must place subjects at risk of harm. This activity is thought to be justified in part by the consent of the subjects involved. But, studies have shown that most such consents are based on a therapeutic misconception (TM); the false belief of subjects that their researchers will act as their personal physicians (seeking their benefit and protecting them from harm), rather than placing them at risk of harm for the good of others. Toleration by researchers of the TM in their subjects is a form of “informational manipulation”; that renders consent procedures disrespectful to subject autonomy. Consent obtained from subjects who labor under a TM is neither voluntary nor informed; as long as they have not been disabused of the TM, the action they take in enrolling in a trial is not the one they intend nor is it autonomously chosen. Changes in consent procedures should be adopted to ensure that all subjects are aware inter alia that (a) the health interests of future patients (as well as the researchers’ and their sponsors’ financial interests) may be more important to researchers than the interest of a subject in his or her health, and (b) normal subjects neither understand nor believe this when told. Close attention to the response of prospective subjects to this information should allow for the exclusion of all but the truly altruistic. However, the result of conscientious implementation of such policies would likely be that human medical research could no longer be conducted on more than a minimal level.     

Adopted foster youths' psychosocial functioning: a longitudinal perspective

Researchers have long debated whether adopted youth manifest disproportionate levels of psychological dysfunction compared with non‐adopted youth. Yet, missing from the debate has been a clear understanding of the specific subgroups of adopted youth who may develop behaviour problems and of the risk factors associated with various vulnerable populations. This longitudinal study examined one subpopulation of adopted youth – former foster children – in order to determine their immediate and long‐term functioning, particularly in comparison with their adopted non‐foster care peers. The central goal of this study was to ascertain the prevalence of behavioural problems in adopted foster youth compared with adopted non‐foster youth and to chart the longitudinal course of their behavioural problems. Participants included adopted foster youth (n = 293) and adopted non‐foster youth (n = 312) from a statewide sample of adopted youth, aged 2–18 years. Data were collected from the adoptive parents at approximately 2, 4 and 8 years after adoption. Adoptive parents rated youths’ functioning with the Behaviour Problems Inventory. According to parental report, a striking number of the foster youth displayed behaviour problems, although the non‐foster care group of children also displayed noteworthy levels of problem behaviours. The rates of behaviour problems in both groups far exceed what is observed in the general population of children.     

Auto Therapy: Using Automobiles as Vehicles for Reminiscence With Older Adults

Reminiscence can be beneficial for older adults and contribute to well-being and ego integrity. In this exploratory pilot study, researchers assessed the feasibility and tolerability of a novel reminiscence intervention using automobiles as the focal point. Nineteen older adults (N = 19) were asked to reminisce using photographs of automobiles from across their lifespan. The RE-AIM framework was used to assess the intervention in terms of reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance. The intervention was well-received, quickly established rapport, and effectively fostered reminiscence. Social workers may find this intervention useful in helping older adults to explore their lives.     

Ordering tasting in a restaurant: experiencing,socializing, and processing food

Sometimes there are moments in which German speakers will state that something schmeckt gut [tastes good]. Focusing on a family celebration in a restaurant in Austria, the paper considers how in three schmeckt gut moments, participants variously order “tasting” as a process of experiencing, socializing, and processing. It is argued that while it is possible to analyse how a person simultaneously experiences sensual qualities inherent in a particular dish, socializes with others, and processes food, these aspects are not equally relevant for the people involved in the “tasting”. Different modes of ordering “tasting” can exist next to each other such that a “tasting together in difference” takes place. Following from this, this article calls for further investigation into the practical achievement of “tasting together in difference” and the enabling role of care in this process. By shedding light on how tasting is done in practices of dining out in Western Europe, it contributes to a growing set of ethnomethodologically oriented studies on how tasting and taste are done in practice.     

Secrecy and Openness in Adoption: An Historical Perspective

The issue of whether there should be continuing contact between those who are adopted and their birth relatives is one of the most contentious issues in current adoption practice (see for example DoH, 1993; McWhinnie and Smith 1994). The view traditionally taken is that adoption in England and Wales has been secret since its legal origins in 1926 and any moves to more fully disclosed information and indeed contact between the parties in adoption is a recent development (see for example DoH 1992). This article considers the history of birth family contact and access to records in adoption from 1926 to the 1958 Adoption Act and examines the factors that favoured the development of closed models of practice where there was no contact between the parties and records became secret. In doing so it challenges the accepted view that adoption has always provided for secrecy in England and Wales and establishes that both the thinking of policy makers and the legislation itself until 1949 provided for more open forms of adoption than we enjoy today. Secrecy, it is claimed, developed as a consequence of a collusion between professionals and the judiciary which disregarded the legal rights of birth parents and failed to respect their entitlement to a proper say in the decisions about the future of their children.     

Rethinking the Soundscape

ABSTRACT

This article takes critical issue with the well-circulated but often misapplied term “soundscape.” Coined by Canadian composer Murray Schafer in his book “The Soundscape,” the term has become one of the keywords of sound studies, but in its wide circulation it has become disconnected from its original scholarly concept and used broadly to apply to nearly any sonic phenomenon. Scholars either misapply it or redefine it to suit their needs. This article is an attempt to trace an intellectual history or genealogy of the term, and to open a conversation about the term's use, application, and utility for scholars of sound. This article draws on Schafer's work in an attempt to ground the term in its own intellectual history, and then traces the use of the term in a variety of sound studies works. The term “soundscape” emerges as at once indispensable and elusive, provocative and limited. By calling attention to background sound, Schafer shaped the field in ways that exceeded his own contribution.     

Exploration of Racial Enactments in an Interracial Therapeutic Dyad to Foster the Strengthening of Voice and Identity in African American Male Adolescents

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of systemic racism on an interracial therapeutic dyad between a white therapist and an African American adolescent male. Leary (2000 Leary, K. (2000). Racial enactments in dynamic treatment. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10(4), 639–653. doi:10.1080/10481881009348573[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) operationalized the term “racial enactments” and made the important point that its “most common” manifestation “has been our relative silence about racial issues” (p. 647). It is the premise of this paper that the youth of color’s subjective experience of racial microaggressions and assaults experienced on a daily basis must be validated and explored prior to a meaningful intersubjective exploration in the clinical encounter. The emphasis in this paper is on the racial enactment that precedes the clinical encounter. A treatment vignette is used to highlight the intersection of social and psychic spheres of human experience and how an awareness of unconscious bias in the therapist can facilitate a more meaningful dialogue in which priority is given to the emergence of a powerful client narrative voice.     

Sensing Bodies and Digitally Mediated Distress

ABSTRACT

In The Five Senses (2008) Michel Serres shows how the body is not an abstracted, dislocated surface that allows for the objectification of the senses and instead illustrates how it is a process: one of continually infolding sensitivities that translate our bodily feelings into a fluid sense of the world. In this article we explore what it means to be a body in the mediated environments of everyday lives of those who visit social media sites that are designed to help people deal with mental distress. We will discuss the way that “bodies” must tack between oft-competing pressures and draws, which emanate from the performance of sense that is contained within these sites. Attempts to “make” sense of the body in such terrains often require an increasingly sophisticated set of skills and expertise and can, despite our best efforts, result in the body being transported to unexpected places. In order to capture a sense of movement, people must try to transform their offline experiences into a set of actions that can be rendered meaningful in terms of an online domain, which we argue is against the way that people sense. We develop a theory of sensory bodies as subject to continual “movement,” drawing on the work of Serres, Simondon, and Manning, before discussing three examples of social media use in mental health, and the potential implications for people having to learn to sense in and through such online spaces.     

Young adults in the United States and Benin reason about gendered cultural traditions

This study explored emerging and young adults’ reasoning about cultural practices in West Africa. American (Study 1, n = 78, M = 20.76 years) and Beninese (Study 2, n = 93, M = 23.61 years) undergraduates were surveyed about their evaluations of corporal punishment, scarification, and schooling restrictions in conditions where the practices had gender‐neutral or gender‐specified targets. In Study 1, the majority (69%) of American participants negatively evaluated the practices, especially when targets were female. However, the majority (73%) assumed the cultural practices were consensual. In Study 2, the majority (76%) of Beninese participants negatively evaluated the practices, and their evaluations did not vary by gender of the target. Few (10%) Beninese participants assumed the cultural practices were consensual. In both studies, emerging and young adults who initially judged practices positively changed their evaluations with a change in consent.