Du modèle de confiage à l’adoption plénière de l’enfant : crises, évolution et émergence d’une nouvelle parentalité en Afrique (exemple du Togo)

Abstract

ObjectiveThis study describes the profile of adopters and examined the motivational factors associated with the plenary adoption in Togo. MethodsIn this study, the files of 60 candidates for plenary adoption in Togo from 2009 to 2011 were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. FindingsAdopters who were married couples represented 68.3%, while 31.7% were single. The majority were university and high school graduates and senior executive and middle-grade managers. The average duration of the couple's life together was 13 (SD=6.32) years. The primary and secondary infertility (88.3%), with the failure of medical treatment and the imminence or the onset of menopause were the reasons to resort to adoption. For 45% of adopters, the transmission of their heritage (perpetuation of the family name, material assets acquired) motivated adoption. In a cultural context of injunction to parenthood, 31.8% were looking to adoption to protect themselves against stigma and 30% were looking for support in old age, for a son who will bury them with dignity. In cases of secondary infertility in 25% of the cases, the adoptee was a substitute for a deceased child. Moreover, adoption was invested by 23.3% of the candidates as a magico-religious act opening the chance for a biological child. For 18.3% of adopters, it was to have an extended family. For 63.2% of single-parent families (single women), the use of adoption echoed the sake of freedom and independence enhanced by a higher level of education and a high professional status. Overall, 40% of adoptive parents had been disappointed by the child fostering system and expressed their desire to have their own child for whom they have full responsibility. ConclusionThese motivations are part of a multitude of complex cultural representations of overemphasis of filiation. Thus, the use of plenary adoption reflects a social evolution of the model of fostering that has been practiced for long time in Africa.