Adoptive Family Members Research Articles

Unsettled adoptive identity: Understanding relationship challenges in adopted adolescents' identity narratives.

Adopted adolescents create identity narratives conceptualizing their connections to their families of adoption and birth. Previous work with a sample of adoptive adolescents identified a sub-group who reported negative experiences regarding adoption as part of their navigating of adoptive identity processes (the "Unsettled" group). The current study examined interviews with adolescents in the "Unsettled" group to elucidate these negative experiences, specifically through identifying the relationship challenges linked to adoption. Participants included 30 adopted adolescents (18 females, 12 males) from a longitudinal study of adoptive families. All the adolescents (M age = 15.2 years) were domestically adopted in infancy by heterosexual couples who were the same race as the adolescents (29 White, 1 Mexican American). Thematic analysis revealed six themes reflecting adolescents' relationship challenges as related to adoption, both in terms of interpersonal interactions and how relational experiences influenced adolescents' thoughts and feelings of past, present, and future selves: (a) Negative experiences in relationships with adoptive family members, (b) Negative experiences in relationships with birth family members, (c) Difficulties in the adoptive kinship network, (d) Negative thoughts and feelings toward the self as an adopted person, (e) Negative views toward adoption as a form of building a family, and (f) Negative connections between adoption and future relationships. Multiple subthemes were also identified that built upon topics within the adoption and family systems literature, such as communication among family members, navigation of birth family contact, and adopted adolescents' perceptions of loss. Also identified were four profiles across themes. Implications for mental health providers and adoption professionals are discussed.

The Search for Origin of Young Adoptees-A Clinical Study.

In the current area of social media propagation, the adoptees' search for the birth family is increasingly reversed: more and more adopted adolescents are contacted directly by their birth parents, even if they did not search for them. This study explores the impact of these new forms of contact between adoptive family members and birth family members, through the qualitative analysis of clinical protocols of five adoptive families that sought counseling in a clinical setting devoted to international adoption. The interpretative phenomenological analysis revealed three themes. Two of them shared by the parents and their children: the feelings of anxiety and intrusion, as well as the feelings of guilt and debt. The last theme concerns only the parents: feelings of endangered family relations and can be divided into two sub-themes: feelings of threat by the birth family, feelings of an undermined parental role. Nevertheless, these new kinds of confrontations with the children's origins bear a potential of renegotiating adoptive family relationships and positive effects on mutual feeling of filiation. Exploring the impact of the search of adoptees by the birth family enables professionals involved in adoption to improve preventive and supportive work in the adoption process.

Comparing outcomes of children and youth with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) in the child welfare system to those in other living situations in Canada: Results from the Canadian National FASD Database.

The current study aimed to explore differences in adverse outcomes between youth and adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) living in child welfare care (i.e., foster care or group home) with those living with their biological parent(s) or with adoptive or other family member(s) in Canada. Data gathered from the Canadian National FASD Database were used for analysis. A total of 665 youth and adolescents with a clinical diagnosis of FASD under the age of 18 living in child welfare care, with biological, adoptive or other family members, were included in the sample. Key areas examined included living situation, legal problems, experience of sexual or physical abuse, mental health (anxiety, conduct disorder, mood disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder) and suicidal ideation. Descriptive statistics and chi-square comparisons were utilized to explore these differences. Results revealed a significantly higher rate of reported sexual and physical abuse among individuals in child welfare care compared with those living with biological parents or with adoptive or other family member(s). Rates of difficulty with the law were also higher among those in child welfare care compared with adoptive/other family members. Conversely, the rate of mood disorders was significantly higher among those living with adoptive/other family members compared with child welfare care. Results highlight similar rates of reported suicidal ideation/attempts across all living situations, as well as mental health concerns. Results offer rare insight into the lives of youth and adolescents under age 18 with diagnosed FASD who reside in child welfare care in contrast to those living with biological parent(s) or with adoptive or other family members. These findings increase our awareness of the complexity of mental health concerns and suicide risk across all living environments. Results have further implications for policy, practice and clinical intervention.

Trajectories of birth family contact in domestic adoptions.

Emotional distance regulation theory (Broderick, 1993; Grotevant, 2009) guided this examination of the changes in family structure and process in adoptive kinship networks experiencing different arrangements of contact between birth and adoptive family members. Group-based trajectory modeling was used to reveal four trajectories of postadoption contact experienced between adoptive and birth family members in adoptive kinship networks of same-race, domestic infant adoptions. Data were drawn from the Minnesota Texas Adoption Research Project, a study of 190 adoptive families and 169 birth mothers followed across four longitudinal waves (middle childhood, adolescence, emerging adulthood, young adulthood). Three aspects of the birth family adoptive family relationship measured at four times were used to create the groups: frequency of contact between the adopted person and birth mother, satisfaction of the adopted person with the openness arrangements, and number of adoptive and birth family members involved in the contact. Four trajectory groups emerged: no contact (41.6% of sample), stopped contact (13.7%), limited contact (26.3%), and extended contact (18.4%). Group membership was validated by coders who matched interview transcripts with group descriptions at levels significantly above chance. Knowledge of trajectories will assist professionals providing postadoption services. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

My Child's Journey Home: Perspectives of Adult Family Members on the Separation and Reunification of the "Disappeared" Children of El Salvador.

This article explores family separation and reunification of the disappeared Salvadoran children separated from their families during El Salvador's civil war (1980-1992) from the perspectives of adult relatives. During separation, adult relatives experienced an "unresolvable loss." Following reunion, families experienced an immediate relief that was often accompanied by an "ambiguous reunification." Emotions were especially complicated and painful when the separation had been a "forced choice" by the parent under coercive wartime political conditions. Adoptive parents strongly influenced reunification. Findings suggest that disappeared children and biological and adoptive family members need psycho-social support throughout separation and reunification.

Addressing Adoption in Counseling: A Study of Adult Adoptees' Counseling Satisfaction

In this mixed-methods study, 118 adult adoptees completed an online survey gathering information on (a) reasons for seeking therapy, (b) preferences for therapists, (c) perception of therapists' degree of emphasis on adoption during therapy, and (d) relationship satisfaction with adoptive and birth family members. The participants also completed the Satisfaction With Therapy and Therapist Scale–Revised (STTS-R), Adoptive Identity Questionnaire (AIQ), and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SES). Findings were that the therapists' adoption competence was the most important factor for adoptees in selecting therapists, adoption-related issues were the most common reason adoptees sought therapy, and adoptees reported being more satisfied with therapy if their therapists placed emphasis on adoption regardless of the amount of attention that was focused on adoption.

Meeting the adoption support needs of adopted adults who have been abused in their adoptive family: lessons from historical placements

This article focuses on a group whose voice is rarely heard: adopted adults who have been abused or neglected within their adoptive family. The findings are drawn from a larger study of post-adoption services and suggest that the abuse and neglect of children by adoptive family members may be more common historically than has been hitherto acknowledged. The article considers this finding in the context of the changes that have occurred in adoption legislation, policy and practice since these adults were placed. It highlights barriers to effective support for abused adopted adults and discusses their support needs. By looking at one aspect of what can go wrong in adoptions – abuse and neglect perpetrated by adoptive family members – it is argued that appropriate support will not be forthcoming unless we are truly hearing what people want. Suggestions are made regarding the development of support services for abused adopted adults and their birth parents and opportunities for adopted children to disclose maltreatment.

Adoption: Biological and Social Processes Linked to Adaptation

Children join adoptive families through domestic adoption from the public child welfare system, infant adoption through private agencies, and international adoption. Each pathway presents distinctive developmental opportunities and challenges. Adopted children are at higher risk than the general population for problems with adaptation, especially externalizing, internalizing, and attention problems. This review moves beyond the field's emphasis on adoptee-nonadoptee differences to highlight biological and social processes that affect adaptation of adoptees across time. The experience of stress, whether prenatal, postnatal/preadoption, or during the adoption transition, can have significant impacts on the developing neuroendocrine system. These effects can contribute to problems with physical growth, brain development, and sleep, activating cascading effects on social, emotional, and cognitive development. Family processes involving contact between adoptive and birth family members, co-parenting in gay and lesbian adoptive families, and racial socialization in transracially adoptive families affect social development of adopted children into adulthood.

Making sense of siblings: connections and severances in post‐adoption contact

AbstractSociological and anthropological studies of kinship have examined adoption as a test case for understanding the complex combinations of biological and social ties that constitute kinship. Adoption sets up an ‘adoption kinship network’ between birth family and adoptive family members. Contact after adoption poses challenges for adoptive families and birth relatives in negotiating changing kinship ties. This paper examines the experience of post‐adoption direct sibling contact from the perspectives of adoptive parents and birth relatives, including adult siblings. Interviews were carried out with 51 adoptive parents, four long‐term foster carers and with 39 birth relatives. The analysis revealed the complex multiple family networks that exist between adoptive families and the families of the adopted child's birth siblings. These networks connect some siblings, but sever connections with others. Where direct contact occurs, infrequent meetings mean that regular, repeated interactions normally considered to constitute ‘family practices’ are absent, in some cases creating barriers to feelings of kinship. Implications for adoption and contact support services are discussed.

Studies based on the Danish Adoption Register: Schizophrenia, BMI, smoking, and mortality in perspective

The genetic and familial environmental influences making up familial correlations in traits and familial aggregation of diseases may be disentangled by adoption studies. Thus, resemblance between the adoptee and the biological relatives indicates a contribution of the segregating gene they have in common, and resemblance between the adoptee and the rearing adoptive family members indicates influences of the shared family environment. The Danish Adoption Register includes information on all 14,425 non-familial adoptions of Danish children legally granted in Denmark from 1924 to 1947. To illustrate the adoption study approach in research, we present results achieved in schizophrenia, body fatness, smoking, and mortality. Significantly higher prevalence of schizophrenia and related conditions were found in biological relatives to adoptees with schizophrenia than among biological relatives to adoptees without schizophrenia. Clear trends in body mass index of biological relatives and the weight of adoptees were found in several settings. A genetic influence on smoking habits were found within a generation. A moderate genetic influence on the mortality rate has been found. The Danish Adoption Register has contributed to the knowledge about environmental and genetic influence in various fields. Genetic influence on the risk of schizophrenia, body fatness, smoking habits, and on the mortality rate has been found.

Post-adoption contact, adoption communicative openness, and satisfaction with contact as predictors of externalizing behavior in adolescence and emerging adulthood

This study examined the relation between three variables related to adoptive family relationships (post-adoption contact between adoptive and birth family members, adoption communicative openness, and satisfaction with contact) and adoptee externalizing behavior in adolescence and emerging adulthood. The study included 190 families of infant-placed, domestic adoptees during childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to analyze predictors of externalizing behavior from contact (adoptive parents and adolescent reports), adoption communicative openness (adoptive mothers), and satisfaction with contact (adoptive parents and adolescent). Externalizing behavior showed moderate stability across childhood, adolescence, and emerging adulthood. Contact and adoption communicative openness were related to each other, but not to externalizing behaviors in adolescence or emerging adulthood. Controlling for the effect of Childhood Externalizing, adoptive families most satisfied with contact reported relative declines in adoptee externalizing behavior during adolescence compared to those in less satisfied families. Satisfaction was also indirectly associated with Emerging Adult Externalizing, through its effect on Adolescent Externalizing. Although contact and adoption communicative openness were highly correlated with each other, neither was related to adoptees' externalizing behavior in adolescence or emerging adulthood. Family-level satisfaction with contact was more predictive of externalizing outcomes.

Intrafamilial transmission of extended-spectrum- -lactamase-producing Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica Babelsberg among the families of internationally adopted children

International adoption from developing countries has become an increasing phenomenon in recent years. Given the high prevalence of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria in these countries, the adopted children represent a group at risk for both carriage and infection with MDR bacteria. The dynamics of intrafamilial transmission of MDR bacteria after adoption was studied in a prospective study from January 2002 to January 2005. Stool samples, taken at the first visit to the outpatient adoption practice and subsequently every month, from the adopted children of an orphanage of Bamako (Mali) and from all the members of their adoptive families were screened for MDR bacteria and bacterial pathogens. Bacteria were characterized by standard biochemical methods, disc diffusion antibiograms, PFGE and plasmid analysis. beta-Lactamase genes were sought by PCR. Over the study period, 52 ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae (E-ESBL), with Escherichia coli (56%) being the most prevalent, were isolated from 24/25 adoptees at arrival in France. During follow-up, the transmission of ESBL-producing E. coli and Salmonella enterica Babelsberg between the adoptees and their adoptive family members has clearly been demonstrated for 5/22 families (23%). The mean duration of the carriage for the adopted children was 9 months (1-15 months). CTX-M-15 was the most prevalent resistance gene among the E-ESBLs (93%), while SHV-12 was found among the S. enterica Babelsberg studied. International travellers, transfer of patients and now adoption may contribute to the global emergence of MDR bacteria. Thus, in addition to the usual screening of adopted children for infectious diseases, additional screening for MDR bacteria should be recommended, at least for children coming from countries with a high prevalence of MDR bacteria.

International Adoption

International Adoption

Openness arrangements and psychological adjustment in adolescent adoptees.

This is the 1st national study to examine whether the level of contact between adoptive and birth family members is associated with the behavioral and emotional adjustment of adolescents adopted in infancy (n = 92). Adoptive family members were interviewed twice, 8 years apart, to determine the level of contact taking place throughout adoptees' childhood and adolescence. The Child Behavior Checklist (T. M. Achenbach, 1991a) and Youth Self-Report (T. M. Achenbach, 1991b) were administered in adolescence. Adoptive parents' reports indicate no significant associations between openness and adolescent adjustment. Adoptees experiencing long-term direct contact reported significantly lower levels of externalizing than adoptees without contact. Adoption policies and legal procedures will best serve families by facilitating voluntary openness agreements that accommodate openness decisions on a case-by-case basis.

Gender Differences and Dynamics Shaping the Adoption Life Cycle: Review of the Literature and Recommendations.

The role of gender in the experiences of adoptive family members has received little systematic attention. Gender differences in response to different tasks and phases of the adoption life cycle are described. Gendered dynamics within the adoptive family, for birth parents, and in the field of adoption are highlighted. Birth fathers and adoptive fathers are typically marginalized, which leaves women to address emotion, connection, and communication, and family dialogues about adoption may engage daughters more successfully than sons. The article reviews reasons why differential rates of problem behavior for adopted boys and girls may result from gender differences in emotional expressiveness, social support seeking, and identity formation. Implications of the feminization of adoption are explored, and recommendations for practice and research are proposed.

Theoretical Perspectives on Adoptive Families' Well-Being

ABSTRACT In this article, we review alternative approaches to selecting appropriate comparison groups when assessing the well-being of members in adoptive families. We consider four theoretical perspectives, each emphasizing the importance of different features of families in determining relationship quality and well-being. The four theoretical approaches reviewed in relation to adoption research include stigmatization, socialization, biological, and family process models. Each leads to somewhat different hypotheses as to how adoptive family members' well-being compares to that of families with two biological parents, single parents, and stepparents. We conclude that designs that permit researchers to assess family processes are crucial in allowing researchers to determine whether apparent family structure differences hold up after accounting for variance within family types.

Adaptive Behavior in Adopted Children

This study examines potential links between early risk and problematic developmental outcomes in a sample of adopted children during middle childhood (mean age = 7. 8 years). No direct relation was found between prenatal, perinatal, or preplacement risk factors and problematic socioemotional adjustment. When 12 high-risk children and their families were studied more intensively, collaboration in relationships within the adoptive kinship network did account for variations in socioemotional outcomes for these children. Collaboration in relationships refers to proactive cooperation among the child’s adoptive and birth family members on behalf of the child’s best interests. The usefulness of this concept for studying other types of complex family forms is suggested.

Genetic and environmental factors in relative body weight and human adiposity.

We review the literature on the familial resemblance of body mass index (BMI) and other adiposity measures and find strikingly convergent results for a variety of relationships. Results from twin studies suggest that genetic factors explain 50 to 90% of the variance in BMI. Family studies generally report estimates of parent-offspring and sibling correlations in agreement with heritabilities of 20 to 80%. Data from adoption studies are consistent with genetic factors accounting for 20 to 60% of the variation in BMI. Based on data from more than 25,000 twin pairs and 50,000 biological and adoptive family members, the weighted mean correlations are .74 for MZ twins, .32 for DZ twins, .25 for siblings, .19 for parent-offspring pairs, .06 for adoptive relatives, and .12 for spouses. Advantages and disadvantages of twin, family, and adoption studies are reviewed. Data from the Virginia 30,000, including twins and their parents, siblings, spouses, and children, were analyzed using a structural equation model (Stealth) which estimates additive and dominance genetic variance, cultural transmission, assortative mating, nonparental shared environment, and special twin and MZ twin environmental variance. Genetic factors explained 67% of the variance in males and females, of which half is due to dominance. A small proportion of the genetic variance was attributed to the consequences of assortative mating. The remainder of the variance is accounted for by unique environmental factors, of which 7% is correlated across twins. No evidence was found for a special MZ twin environment, thereby supporting the equal environment assumption. These results are consistent with other studies in suggesting that genetic factors play a significant role in the causes of individual differences in relative body weight and human adiposity.

Perception of Adoption as Social Stigma: Motivation for Search and Reunion

Adoption occurs in all societies. Yet the form of the adoption process differs according to a society's structural constraints and the expressed needs of that society's members. For example, traditional societies usually arrange informal adoptions in which children are placed with other kin (Benet, 1976; McDade, 1991). In such cases, regular interaction between kin members ensures adopted children's knowledge of their birth parents' identity and continued birth family contact. In contrast, most Western societies use formal legal procedures to arrange the adoption of third-party, non-kin family members (Griffith, 1991). The first adoption laws implemented in North America included a secrecy clause sealing adopted children's original birth records and restricting the release of their biological background information (Benet, 1976; Garber, 1985). These secrecy clauses are now being challenged (Griffith, 1991). For example, many racial and ethnic groups in North America use the informal adoption practices of their traditional cultures, thereby avoiding the legal demands of Western adoption agents (Das Gupta, 1995, p. 161). In addition, the recent increase in private adoptions has led to more open communication and, often, face-to-face contact between adoptive and birth parents (Berry, 1991). More and more open adoptions, where the adoptive parents have information about the birth parent and vice versa, are also being arranged (Caplan, 1990). The relative success of these alternate practices brings into question the validity of an adoptive process that denies adoptees access to their biological heritage (Sachdev, 1989). The strongest challenge against secrecy comes from the actions of adult adoptees who have searched for, and established contact with, unknown birth parents (Gonyo & Watson, 1988; March, 1995; Pacheco & Eme, 1993; Sachdev, 1992). Before reunion with the birth parent, these adoptees claim a sense of incompletion from their inability to fully integrate their biological background information into their identity structure (Anderson, 1989; Haimes & Timms, 1985; Simpson, Timm, & McCubbin, 1981; Sobol & Cardiff, 1983; Triseliotis, 1973). After reunion, they experience a sense of personal coherence and serenity from the background knowledge gained through meeting the birth parent (Pacheco & Eme, 1993; Sachdev, 1992). These findings have produced a strong debate over the continued need for secrecy in adoption (Garber, 1985; Griffith, 1991; Sachdev, 1989). An interesting element in this debate is the lack of similarity among searching adoptees. To date, no specific sociological category or personality type has been found to help determine which adoptees are most likely to search or which are most likely to engage in contact with birth mothers (Haimes & Timms, 1985, p. 51; Sachdev, 1992, p. 58). Searchers represent all age cohorts, socioeconomic status positions, educational levels, and degrees of satisfaction with the adoption outcome (Pacheco & Eme, 1993; Simpson et al., 1981; Sobol & Cardiff, 1983). In addition, adoptees who possess a considerable amount of background material about their birth parent may be just as likely to search as adoptees who possess little or no knowledge (Anderson, 1989; Haimes & Timms, 1985; Sorosky, Baran, & Pannor, 1974, 1975, 1978). Adoption appears to be the only factor to consolidate these individuals into any distinct, unified group (Pacheco & Eme, 1993, p. 58). The identification of adoption as the only common link among searchers suggests a greater focus on the social position of adoptee than the research literature currently exhibits. With this focus in mind, this article examines an adopted population's view of the impact of secrecy on their adoptive experience. That view emerges through a study of (a) the way in which 60 reunited adult adoptees perceived others' acceptance of them as adoptive family members, (b) how that perception affected their desire for contact with their birth mother, and (c) how reunion affected their sense of social acceptability. …

IQ correlations in transracial adoptive families

IQ tests were administered to all available members over 4 years old in 101 transracial adoptive families when the adopted children were an average of 7 years old and again when they averaged 17 years old. At both times, 426 members of 93 families were studied; 398 were seen in person and administered the WAIS-R or WISC-R. IQ correlations were calculated for adopted and biological parent-child pairs, and for genetically related and unrelated siblings. Educational levels of birth parents were correlated with the IQ scores of their adopted-away children. Results show that biologically related family members tended to resemble each other intellectually more than did adoptive family members at both time points. IQ correlations for biological parent-child pairs exceeded those for adoptive parent-child pairs, and correlations were greater for genetically related than unrelated siblings. In late adolescence, the IQ scores of unrelated siblings in the transracial adoptive families were more similar than those of unrelated adolescent siblings pairs reported in other studies. The pattern of IQ correlations for unrelated siblings suggested that familial environmental influences on IQ decline from childhood to late adolescence, but this conclusion was not supported by parent-child IQ correlations. The effects of selective placement on familial IQ correlations were small. Estimates of genetic and familial environmental influences on IQ were very similar to those of other studies. This suggests that the influences on intellectual development in this sample of black/interracial adoptees reared in white families are similar to those for children in the majority populations of the United States and Western Europe.