Adoption and Family Therapy

The aim of this article is to sensitise family therapists to adoption. A major assertion of the paper is that adoptive families are different from biological families. The family therapy context is a natural framework for examining these issues, as adoption affects and alters both birth and adoptive families, and adoption‐related problems occur within the context of the extended family system. The differences between intra‐racial (socially‐motivated) and inter‐racial adoptions are discussed, as well as the differences between closed and open adoptions. The study of families affected by adoption provides a model for other family forms, such as stepfamilies, foster families and families who form through new birth technologies.     

Ethical Adoption Practice

Abstract

Dr. Paul Denhalter completed his doctoral candidacy research on adoptive family attachment and entitlement. Nineteen parents were interviewed about what elements of adoptive family life contributed to a sense of entitlement. The act of care giving increased entitlement; negative comments from others about adoption tended to decrease it. In his social work practice, Dr. Denhalter counseled adoptive and birth families and advocated education, counseling and support for successful open adoption relationships. His positive perspective on adoption included his father's adoption at age five. Dr. Denhalter was critical of the current trends in adoption that have pathologized adoption for political purposes. He emphasized the results of the Search Institute's study that had positive conclusions about adopted children as well as a blueprint for successful adoptive families to follow.     

The Symbolic Crises of Adoption

Abstract

Although adoption is a fairly common means of family building, the public lacks the orientation to express positive adoption symbols, to put a positive “face” on adoption. Adoptive families find their realities and those of others at odds, and the results are reflected in insensitive remarks, questioning motives, and damaged self-esteems. Symbolic crises are the result of changing adoption patterns and motives; language transformations that create tension; and media misrepresentations. This paper articulates the dimensions of the symbolic crises faced by adoptive families and adoption advocates created by media agenda setting.     

Envisaging the adoption process to strengthen gay- and lesbian-headed families: recommendations for adoption professionals

Although a growing number of child placement agencies are serving lesbians and gay men, a dearth of literature exists for adoption agency policies and practices related to working with this population. This article explores the unique characteristics and strengths of prospective gay and lesbian adoptive parents throughout each of the three phases of the adoption process-preplacement, placement, and postplacement-as well as provides suggestions for adoption professionals working with gays and lesbians. Data from a recent qualitative study of single, gay adoptive fathers are used to illustrate examples and expose areas of potential strengths of adoptive parents not generally explored in the preplacement or preparatory stage. Special attention also is given to the continuing needs of adoptive families headed by gays and lesbians after adoptive placement. Specifically explored are the needs for developing linkages with similar families, as well as providing resources designed to promote successful outcomes of adopted children raised by gays and lesbians.     

From Adoption to Residential Treatment Centers

Although children who have been adopted are referred for mental health services more often than their non-adopted peers and might be overrepresented within residential treatment centers (RTCs), little is known about adoptive families' experiences with RTCs. The present study sought to understand the experiences of families whose children were placed in residential treatment facilities after a finalized adoption. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a total of ten families who had adopted 21 children. Of these, 13 children had been placed in an RTC after the finalized adoption. Most of the children in the sample were between zero and five years of age at placement. Adoptive families reported the need for in-the-trenches training and community-based services that could provide ongoing support post-adoption. Implications from these findings include increasing in-home services and other options within the adoptive families' own communities. Future research could incorporate a larger sample to assess whether the experiences of families in this study are similar to other adoptive families.     

PARTNERS: a model program for special-needs adoptive families in stress

That adoption status, once begun, does not end for any adoptive family, and that agencies must be ready to help adoptive families whenever needed, has been generally agreed. For families that adopt special-needs children, the availability of help at all times is imperative and involves special considerations. This article sets forth the kinds of services that are needed, and describes a program particularly designed for this purpose.     

Implications of Recent Research on Eastern European Adoptees for Social Work Practice

Social workers engaged in preparing and supporting families that adopt non-infants and sibling groups from Russia and other Eastern European countries need to be well-versed in: (1) the issues that affect this population of adoptees and adopters; and (2) the recent research on both. They also need to expand the model of adoptive families that drives their work. The authors identify three areas of risk to successful older-child adoptee and adoptive family functioning, explore the consequences of detrimental adoption policies and practices on the micro and macro-levels, and make recommendations for needed changes. The changes the authors identify are framed through an investigation of recent research on international adoptees and their adoptive families. The authors use adoptive parents’ own words to make the issues they discuss more concrete. Implications for social worker training and practice, and expanded roles for social workers, are identified.     

The role of birth/previously adopted children in families choosing to adopt children with special needs.

Engaging birth/previously adopted children during the adoption process is crucial to laying the ground-work for successful placements. When families choose to adopt children with special needs, however, the role their other children will play in the adoption's success is often overlooked. This article presents a practical model that recognizes the dynamics of strength and vulnerability in adoptive families, then applies this model in preparing and supporting the family through the changes that are inevitable in special needs adoption. The model can also be used to assist adoptive parents in identifying and developing the skills they need to manage these shifts within the family.     

Letting Her Go: Western Adoptive Families’ Search and Reunion With Chinese Birth Parents

This is the first study to investigate the trend of adopted individuals from China who search for and reunite with their birth parents. The authors suggest that the closed nature of China's international adoption program and growing ethical concerns about children's true origins impact the desire to search. Due to the generally younger ages of Chinese adoptees, adoptive parents have taken an unprecedentedly proactive role in this process. This article relies on in-depth interviews with adopted children and adoptive parents from seven Western families who reunited with Chinese birth parents. Interviews focused on the decision to search and methods used; the initial reunion; the development of bonds between adoptive and birth families; and post-reunion views of searching.     

Communicative Openness Within Adoptive Families: Adoptive Parents' Narrative Accounts of the Challenges of Adoption Talk and the Approaches Used to Manage These Challenges

Policy and practice relating to openness in adoption have changed substantially in the last 30 years. There is a growing body of empirical research that supports both structural and communicative openness, and there is widespread consensus that communicative openness is desirable within adoptive families. Despite this, there is evidence that some adoptive parents and their adopted children struggle to achieve the level of communicative openness to which they aspire. This paper presents data from a small-scale exploratory study of adoptive family life. It draws on the narrative accounts of adoptive mothers and fathers to explore some of the sensitivities of adoption talk, the communication challenges experienced by adoptive parents, and the ways that adopters manage these challenges. Finally, some suggestions are made for practice.     

Associations between Family Communication Patterns, Sibling Closeness, and Adoptive Status

Previous research has demonstrated the protective effect of family and sibling closeness on child adjustment, but fewer studies have investigated how closeness is promoted within families. Guided by Family Communication Patterns Theory, we tested the association between family communication and sibling emotional and behavioral closeness, and whether adoptive status moderated this relationship. Participating families included 616 adoptive and non-adoptive families with two adolescent children. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Sibling closeness was highest in families that emphasized both conversation and conformity and lowest in families that emphasized only conversation or neither conversation nor conformity. Emotional and behavioral closeness were differentially associated with adoption status, sibling age, and sibling gender. Few moderating effects of adoption status were found. Post hoc analyses showed moderating effects of sibling gender composition.     

The Postadoption Needs of Adoptive Parents of Children With Disabilities

Adoptions of children with disabilities are considered special needs, due to the higher level of support needed pre- and postadoption by families and children for adoptions to succeed. Despite this fact, very few studies examine the specific postadoption experiences of families with children with disabilities. Using secondary analysis of a national survey of adoptive parents, as well as interviews and a focus group with adoptive parents in one state, this study examines families’ with adopted children with disabilities challenges and unmet needs after adoption, as well as the postadoption needs and experiences of adoptive families with children with developmental and intellectual disabilities and adoptive families of children with emotional, behavioral, and mental health disabilities. Findings indicate that families with children with disabilities do report higher rates of challenges and barriers to service access, and that this is particularly true in families with adopted children with emotional, behavioral, and mental health disabilities. Implications for research and practice are discussed.     

A Study of Australian Intercountry Adoption: Choosing Applicants to Parent

Abstract

Australian families are changing and parenthood is increasingly being seen as an individual choice. One important arena for exercising such choice is adoption, which today takes place across national boundaries in the form of intercountry adoption. This is now the predominant type of adoption in Australia. In order to reach their goal of parenthood, individuals choosing intercountry adoption must undergo an education and assessment process. This paper presents the findings from research undertaken as part of a larger doctoral study, with prospective intercountry adoptive parents, intercountry adoptive parents, adoption professionals, and support group representatives living in Australia. Three groups were found to exist in relation to the intercountry adoption assessment process: embracers, acceptors, and pragmatists. Factors influencing each group are discussed and suggestions for strengthening the role and efficacy of education and assessment in the selection of Australian intercountry adoptive parents are recommended.     

Interjurisdictional placement of children in foster care

As the population of children in foster care has increased and more children are freed for adoption, foster and adoptive families are needed in ever increasing numbers. One avenue for expanding the pool of families is through placement of children with families in other counties and states. This article considers the policy and practice implications of interjurisdictional placement in the context of foster care, adoption, and kinship care and suggests directions for interjurisdictional adoption practice and policy.     

The journey to adopt a child who has special needs: Parents' perspectives

Many of the children eligible for adoption from the public child welfare system are considered to have special needs. Given the importance of securing adoptive families for these children, knowing more about the adoption process as it is experienced by prospective parents who complete (or are in the process of completing) their adoption pursuit and those who discontinue it are critical. Using qualitative inquiry, prospective adoptive parents in nine families were studied in an effort to learn more about their motivations, expectations, preparation, and experiences. Although the adoption outcome (continued versus discontinued) was different, the process, including negative experiences, was quite similar. Programming implications and suggestions for future research are offered.     

The intersection of home study assessments and child specific recruitment: the performance of home studies in practice

Child specific recruitment efforts are designed to facilitate permanent placements for children in foster care by finding them potential adoptive families among people already known to the child. This process relies heavily on gathering thorough and accurate information about prospective families, and much of this information is often contained in families’ home study assessments. Yet, little is known in the research literature about the way that home studies operate in conjunction with the recruitment of adoptive families. The purpose of this study is to explore how home studies are perceived and used in the context of child specific recruitment. Findings suggest that home studies perform best in gathering general family information, but poorly in capturing sensitive information, which may be one of the most critical dimensions to capture. These findings highlight important practice changes needed in current adoption practice.     

A Comparative Analysis of Adoptive Family Functioning with Gay,Lesbian, and Heterosexual Parents and Their Children

Abstract

The objectives of this comparative study were to examine adoptive family functioning with a sample of gay, lesbian, and heterosexual adoptive parents and their children. The results suggested that parent sexual orientation is not a significant predictor of adoptive family functioning, adopted child's behavior, and parent's perceptions of helpfulness from family support networks. Furthermore, a regression analysis suggested the following variables were associated with higher levels of family functioning: adoptive parents who were previously foster parents and children who had more previous placements prior to adoption. Lower family functioning was associated with children adopted through CPS; with children who had mental health diagnoses, learning disorders, or other handicapping conditions; and with children who were in a higher grade in school. The results of this comparative study of adoptive families support the need for more methodologically rigorous research that includes gay and lesbian adoptive parents along with heterosexual parents.     

The war at home: affective economics and transnationally adoptive families in the United States

The question of how to best conduct post-placement interventions for transnationally adoptive families at risk of dissolution (legal annulment) is an emerging issue in the United States. The current popular trend for adoptive families to pursue biomedical post-placement interventions, despite a lack of proof that such interventions actually work to keep the adoptive family intact, suggests the need for a more phenomenological approach to understanding both adoptive parents’ and transnational adoptees’ post-placement experiences. This study examines the empirical experiences of adoptive families at risk of dissolution in the United States who attempt to define and navigate the path toward family stability after adopting. From the coding of this data set emerge some routes through and by which emotions circulate between adoptive parents and transnational adoptees through the family body and the family social. Particularly, it investigates one post-placement “affective economy” at work in which adoptive parents attempt, through the expression of particular forms of parental love, to align adoptees as subjects of the private, nuclear American family, while adoptees more often attempt to create space for more heterogeneous forms of family, ones that include birth parents and other kin-like relations in their countries of origin. Ultimately, it illuminates some vastly different and sometimes contradictory ways that adoptive parents and adoptees can interpret family through emotional lenses, ones that can prevent a smooth post-placement transition for adoption actors. An understanding of these differences and how they shape, and are shaped by, the post-placement affective economy within families at risk of dissolution may aid in locating indicators for adoption dissolution, and possibly, designing more effective post-placement interventions for families struggling in the aftermath of adoption. It may also help scholars begin to think about the construction and impact of affective economies in the realm of adoption more generally.     

(Ap)parent Boundaries: Parents' Boundary Work at Cultural Events for Families with Children Adopted from China

Abstract

The adoption of children from China by American families represents a rich case study for an expanding sociological literature on boundaries: it brings to life many of our most salient borders and highlights their very permeability. This paper represents one aspect of a larger research project on parents' efforts to bridge perceived ethnocultural boundaries within the China adoptive family. Through ethnographic fieldwork and semistructured, in-depth interviews, I examine parents' interpretations of and participation in Chinese cultural events organized by and for China adoptive families. These events are significant sites for social research on boundaries because they: (1) appear to assume permeable ethnocultural borders; and (2) bring previously incoherent individuals together as a bounded group. Drawing on classic and contemporary theories of ethnic identification and collective identity, I reveal how parents activate existing symbolic and social boundaries and create new symbolic and social boundaries in their efforts to construct community. In particular, I demonstrate how previously incoherent parents cohere as a bounded community by actively distinguishing themselves from “authentic” Chinese/Chinese American referents and the “imagined community” of biological families. Likewise, I reveal how the community's boundaries and cultural events both mask and alienate a growing percentage of the China adoption contingent: African American and Asian American China adoptive parents, lower-middle-class and working-class China adoptive parents, and the adoptive parents of Chinese sons. Through this case-based analysis, I add general theoretical and methodological contributions to the diffuse boundaries literature.     

Contact Between Birth and Adoptive Families During the First Year Post-Placement: Perspectives of Lesbian,Gay, and Heterosexual Parents

Despite growing visibility of lesbian- and gay-parent adoption, only one qualitative study has examined birth family contact among adoptive families with lesbian and gay parents (Goldberg, Kinkler, Richardson, & Downing, 2011). We studied adoptive parents’ (34 lesbian, 32 gay, and 37 heterosexual; N = 103 families) perspectives of birth family contact across the first year post-placement. Using questionnaire and interview data, we found few differences in openness dynamics by parental sexual orientation. Most reported some birth mother contact, most had legally finalized their adoption, and few described plans to withhold information from children. We discuss implications for clinical practice, policy, and research.