International approaches to Origin Countries and Birth Parents

Abstract

International approaches to Origin Countries and Birth Parents By Júlia Vich-Bertran Introduction Adoption literature often refers to the adoption triad, comprised of the adoptive parents, the adoptees, and the biological parents, the latter being the silenced part of the triad. When biological parents are considered, the studies focus on the psycho-sociological profile of the mothers who decide or are obligated to relinquish their children to another family, the factors that motivate their choices, and the impact of relinquishment through their life span. Generally, the women portrayed in these studies are unmarried adolescents living in developed countries. More recently, psychological research has focused on the outcomes of “open adoption” for these members of the triad. However, biological fathers are usually left out of the adoption literature, becoming “figures in the shadow,” as Mason has pointed out (29). Perhaps the most forgotten figures of the adoptive triad are biological birth families of international adoptive programs. Because current academic research has been dominated by the outcome studies of developmental psychology, these studies inquire into the adaptation, acculturation, and mental health of adoptees after their adoption, while completely ignoring the pre-adoptive part of the adoptive trajectory. Thus the actors, practices, and values that establish the patterns of circulation of minors in the “sending” countries—before the child has been matched with his/her adoptive family—are obliterated. The international adoptive path easily dispels the political, social, and historical circumstances that frame the “abandonment” of certain minors and breaks away all connections with biological families. This can distort the adoption research. In this respect, academic delving into international adoption mirrors the desire of adoptive parents to give adoptees a “clean break” in their new homeland, erasing all footprints in their birth country. As few adoptive parents or researchers inquire into the actual motives for and practices of relinquishing children in the “sending” countries, Western discourses on the adoption triad are inevitably biased towards the Vich-Bertran, “International” 219 interests and values of the adoptive parents, which they tacitly assume to be universal. Even though anthropology has been the pioneer discipline in illuminating the origin contexts of biological families, there are still a lot of shadows and empty spaces to fill, reflecting mostly our own prejudices and fears. For this reason, I decided to include in this bibliography a variety of fields and disciplines, which have tackled issues related to the circulation of minors in their countries of origin and the role of national and international birth families, this disregarded third of the adoption triad that is systematically excluded from the hegemonic discourse. Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Abreu, D. No Bico da Cegonha: Histórias de adoção e da adoção internacional no Brasil. Rio de Janeiro: Relume Dumará, 2002. Print. Bachrach, C. A., K. S. Stolley, and K. A. London. “Relinquishment of Premarital Births: Evidence from National Survey Data.” Family Planning Perspectives 24.1 (1992): 27–32. Bailey, J. M. “Making the Adoption Decision: A Study of Birthmothers” Diss. The Union Institute, 1997. Print. Baumann, C. “Adoptive Fathers and Birthfathers: A Study of Attitudes.” Child and Adolescent SocialWork Journal 18.5 (1999): 373–91. Print. Beck, M. “Toward a National Putative Father Registry Database.” Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy 25.3 (2002): 1031. Print. Blanton, T. L., and J. Deschner. “Biological Mother’s Grief: The Postadoptive Experience in Open Versus Confidential Adoption.” Child Welfare 69.6 (1990): 525–35. Print. Boss, P. Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1999. Print. ---. Once a Mother: Relinquishment and Adoption from the Perspective of Unmarried Mothers in South India. Nijmegen: Radboud UP, 2008. Print. Bouchier, P., L. Lambert, and J. Triseliotis. Parting with a Child for Adoption: The Mothers Literature Perspective. London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering, 1991. Print. Adoption & Culture Vol. 4 (2014) 220 Bowie, F. “Adoption and the Circulation of Children.” Cross-Cultural Approaches to Adoption. Ed. Bowie. London: Routledge, 2004. 3–20. Print. ---. Cross-Cultural Approaches to Adoption. Oxford: Routledge, 2004. Print. Brodzinsky, A. “Surrendering an Infant for Adoption: The Birthmother Experience.” The Psychology of Adoption. Ed. D. Brodzinsky and M. Schechter. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. Print. Carr, M...