Birth Family Members Research Articles

Thinking About the Birth Father: Loss, Longing, Ambivalence, and Indifference Among Adopted Adolescents With Lesbian Mothers

ABSTRACTAdopted youth often have contact with or at least information about birth family members—but such relationships or knowledge rarely extend to birth fathers. The current study explores ideas, feelings, and questions about birth fathers among youth raised by two mothers, including whether or not they desire contact. Interviews were conducted with 25 adolescents, ages 13–19 years. Thematic analysis of narratives revealed seven groups of respondents who displayed a range of interests, feelings, and contact desires in relation to birth fathers. Some adolescents had limited information about or interest in their birth fathers, others showed ambivalence and uncertainty, and still others voiced curiosity and strong interest. A few articulated a sense of a fathers ‘absence’ and a longing for a fatherly presence. The data are interpreted in the context of ambiguous loss, uncertainty management, and gender perspectives. Implications for future research, adoption practice, and adoptive parenting are considered.

Adoption in the Era of Secrecy: Practical and Ethical Challenges Facing Adult Adoptees in the Search for Birth Families

This article explores findings from research into the impact of adoption throughout the life course of adults who were adopted in the era of secrecy, the 1940s–1970s. A narrative approach was used to explore their reflections, and semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 11 adults. The findings were then analysed through the lens of the Life Course Perspective. Previous studies on adoption have largely explored the outcomes of searching for birth family members, but few have focused on how adoptees went about this, the challenges they encountered, the decisions made and what happened as they began to dismantle layers of secrecy surrounding their adoption. For most of the participants, resources such as genealogical websites and particular guidance were not available at the time they were searching for birth information or attempting to make contact with birth families. Their accounts highlighted how social workers with potential birth information did not appear to be able to consider the broader emotional impact this might entail for adoptees. Initial meetings were described by some adoptees as hurdles to be overcome, and little birth information was given. Some continued to search for birth relatives without support, using random methods to gain contact. The ways in which adults went about their search sometimes appeared to suggest a lack of consideration or awareness on their part of the possible impact on others involved. In reality, they were faced with obstacles and barriers as they attempted to learn about their origins. Their stories provide a valuable insight into how adult adoptees sought to dismantle layers of secrecy, highlighting the complex, challenging and isolated situation they found themselves in as they searched for birth information and birth families, as well as the ethical challenges and dilemmas they had to negotiate in order to do so.

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.

Birth family contact from childhood to adulthood: Adjustment and adoption outcomes in adopted young adults

Experiences of contact between adopted persons and birth family members have implications for psychological adjustment of adopted persons. The current study utilizes four contact trajectory groups, spanning from middle childhood to young adulthood and encompassing three aspects of birth family contact in predicting psychological adjustment and adoption-related outcomes in adopted young adults. Data come from a longitudinal study of adoptive families in which adopted persons were domestically adopted in infancy by same-race parents in the United States. Adopted young adults in the group characterized by sustained high levels of contact and satisfaction with contact over time (“Extended Contact”) displayed lower levels of psychological distress and higher levels of psychological well-being than adopted persons in the group characterized by contact that increased over time but remained limited (“Limited Contact”). Generally, adopted persons within the group characterized by consistent lack of contact (“No Contact”) and the group characterized by contact that was initially present but ended (“Stopped Contact”) did not differ in distress and well-being from those in the “Extended Contact” group. No group differences were found on adoption dynamics and identity; however, young adults in the “Extended Contact” group generally reported more positive relationships with their birth mothers than those in the other groups. Findings are discussed in the context of heterogeneity in contact experiences and implications for policy and practice.

Co-Design with People with Lived Experience: Designing Resources to Communicate with Children and Young People in Care about their Family Time Contact Visits

Abstract Contact visits, or family time, enable children in out-of-home care to sustain relationships with their birth families. In Australia, direct contact including face-to-face visits is typical for children on long-term orders, including guardianship and open adoption. Caseworkers are charged with supporting relationships between children’s birth family members and carers and ensuring contact is safe and child-centred. This article describes how people with lived experience of family time in out-of-home care have collaborated with researchers to co-design practical resources, in the context of an action research study aimed at changing caseworker practice. These resources include a book for young children and a book for older children and adolescents, which both use trauma-informed language and empower their audiences to know their rights and ask for what they need. Additional resources include co-designed tip sheets for family members and carers. People who have personally experienced the care system have unique insights into the experience of family time in out-of-home care and how it can be improved. In partnership, researchers and people with lived experience can identify the gaps in knowledge and practice resources, and co-design resources that integrate lived experience and research findings, underpinned by theory.

“Do You Really Want to be Disappointed?”: Adoptees’ Expectations and Violations During Birth Family Contact

ABSTRACT The current study used an Expectancy Violations Theory (EVT) framework to explore the expectations that adult adoptees have as they begin to make contact with birth family members. Thirty-two semi-structured interviews with adoptees revealed expectations for birth family contact, violations that occurred during contact, and effects of those violations. Largely, expectations were negative, as adoptees were concerned that contact would (a) cause problems for the birth family member, (b) result in a second rejection, or (c) reveal negative information about the birth family member. Adoptees experienced both positive and negative violations when they made contact, resulting in feelings of uncertainty. These results shed light on the complicated process of making birth family contact.

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.

Impact of local terminology on the design of a community-based diagnostic and management algorithm for postpartum sepsis: findings of formative research.

BackgroundPostpartum sepsis is one of the leading causes of maternal mortality and morbidity in developing countries. This formative research elicits local terms used for postpartum illnesses and symptoms of postpartum sepsis with the aim of improving postpartum diagnosis and management in Pakistan.MethodsWe conducted 34 in-depth interviews with recently delivered women (RDW), traditional birth attendants (TBAs), healthcare providers and family members of RDW from rural Sindh to explore local Sindhi terms used to describe postpartum sepsis and related symptoms. During interviews, all participants were asked to orally free list common symptoms of postpartum illnesses; those who were aware of the concept were asked to free list possible symptoms of postpartum sepsis. The responses were recorded by the interviewer. Free listing data were analyzed for frequency and salience.ResultsMost participants, including TBAs, were not familiar with the concept of postpartum sepsis as a distinct disease or of a local term denoting the concept. Almost all could identify and report symptoms related to postpartum sepsis in the local language. Only physicians were able to recognize the term postpartum sepsis and related symptoms. Multiple local terms were used for a particular symptom; still others were used to denote gradations of severity. ‘Bukhar’ (fever) was the most commonly named symptom although it was often considered a normal part of puerperium. Many postpartum illnesses were related to the highly non-specific local term ‘kamzori’ (weakness).ConclusionsBetter awareness about local terminology used in rural areas related to postpartum sepsis could improve communication, care-seeking patterns, diagnosis and management.

Relationships of young adults with foster care backgrounds: Tensions and management strategies

AbstractThe present study focuses on experiences of relational tensions and management strategies in family relationships among 18 young adults with foster care backgrounds who participated in interviews. In the analysis drawing from relational dialectics, three main tensions were revealed in the participants' relationships with birth and foster family members or in their romantic relationships: the dialectics of emotional distance‐closeness, integration‐separation and sameness‐otherness. In addition, the tension of the childhood dialectic of responsibility was identified in this study. The tensions were managed utilizing eight strategies. The findings highlight the importance of giving a voice to young adults who have experienced the complex web of relationships in at least two families and of sensitizing both birth and foster parents and other adults working with foster children and youth to these tensions in relationships.

A brief history of contact in fostering and adoption: practice and power, and the coming of the mobile phone

This article charts the UK history of contact in fostering and adoption as it relates to looked after children and their birth relatives. It builds on a recent publication in this journal by one of the authors based on her research on the use of social media by children in care. Here we look at previous practices relating to the question of whether or not contact ought to be ‘allowed’ in which words such as ‘access’ were used, betokening the child as object. We also come up to date with reference to contemporary efforts to recast contact as ‘family time’ that is significant in the child’s continuation of understanding of self. Other words in the lexicon are problematised, including ‘contact’ itself. Attention is also devoted to the social work profession's conception and management of contact. We argue that a critical history of contact reveals the various ways that formal and informal power operates to both regulate and discipline those involved, most centrally the child and birth family members. Drawing upon emerging research relating to social media and contact, the article concludes with a discussion of how young people’s access to, and use of, social media has altered, how contact is managed and ‘policed’, and how this has shifted the balance of power in contact towards greater egalitarianism.

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).

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.

Contact with birth family in intercountry adoptions: Comparing families headed by sexual minority and heterosexual parents

Contact between adoptive families and birth families in the context of intercountry adoption, as well as adoption by sexual minorities (e.g., lesbians and gay men), represent understudied topics. In the current study, we examine the extent and type of contact with birth family in intercountry adoptive families headed by heterosexual and sexual minority parents. Data were drawn from the Modern Adoptive Families project, a nationwide, non-random survey of adoptive parents' beliefs and experiences that was conducted from 2012 to 2013. The current sample consisted of 479 families headed by heterosexual parents (H) and 38 families headed by sexual minority women (SM) whose oldest adopted child was younger than 18years of age and who had been placed from another country. Although no family type difference was found in contact with birth family prior to or at the time of placement (H=9.6%; SM=13.2%), sexual minority respondents reported a higher level of contact with one or more members of their children”s birth families following adoptive placement than did heterosexual respondents (SM=28.9%; H=14.4%), as well as currently (SM=21.1%; H 9.8%). They also reported more contact with their children”s birth mothers than did heterosexual parents, although no family type differences were found for contact with other birth family members. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

Exploration of social factors associated to maternal deaths due to haemorrhage and convulsions: Analysis of 28 social autopsies in rural Bangladesh.

BackgroundSocial autopsy is an innovative approach to explore social barriers and factors associated to a death in the community. The process also sensitize the community people to avert future deaths. Social autopsy has been introduced in maternal deaths in Bangladesh first time in 2010. This study is to identify the social factors in the rural community associated to maternal deaths. It also looks at how the community responses in social autopsy intervention to prevent future maternal deaths.MethodsThe study was conducted in the Thakurgaon district of Bangladesh in 2010. We have purposively selected 28 social autopsy cases of which maternal deaths occurred due to either haemorrhage or due to convulsions. The autopsy was conducted by the Government health and family planning first line field supervisors in rural community. Family members and neighbours of the deceased participated in each autopsy and provided their comments and responses.ResultsA number of social factors including delivery conducted by the untrained birth attendant or family members, delays in understanding about maternal complications, delays in decision making to transfer the mother, lack of proper knowledge, education and traditional myth influences the maternal deaths. The community identified their own problems, shared within them and decide upon rectify themselves for future death prevention.ConclusionsSocial autopsy is a useful tools to identify social community within the community by discussing the factors that took place during a maternal death. The process supports villagers to think and change their behavioural patterns and commit towards preventing such deaths in the future.

From Face-to-Face to Facebook: The Role of Technology and Social Media in Adoptive Family Relationships with Birth Family Members

ABSTRACTThis qualitative study of 77 individuals in 40 couples (same-sex and heterosexual), who had adopted publically, privately, or internationally, examined parents' engagement with their child's birth family via technology (e.g., texting, e-mail, social media) through the lens of the Couple and Family Technology frame-work (Hertlein & Blumer, 2014). Parents used three approaches to contact: active, passive, and no contact. Regardless of approach, some parents described concerns about boundaries. Couples were generally in agreement in their perspectives on engaging with birth family via technology. Practitioners must be know-ledgeable about management of relationships via technology and help adoptive families set healthy boundaries.

Family-Based Genetic Association for Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization

Despite some evidence of genetic and environmental factors on molar-incisor hypomineralization (MIH), its aetiology remains unclear. This family-based genetic association study aimed more comprehensively to investigate the genetic carriage potentially involved in MIH development. DNA was obtained from buccal cells of 391 individuals who were birth family members of 101 Brazilian nuclear families. Sixty-three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were investigated in 21 candidate genes related to amelogenesis using the TaqMan™ OpenArray™ Genotyping platform. All SNPs were genotyped in 165 birth family members unaffected by MIH, 96 with unknown MIH status and 130 affected individuals (50.7% with severe MIH). Association analysis was performed by the transmission/disequilibrium test (TDT), and statistical results were corrected using the false discovery rate. Significant results were obtained for SNPs rs7821494 (FAM83H gene, OR = 3.7; 95% CI = 1.75-7.78), rs34367704 (AMBN gene, OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.16-6.58), rs3789334 (BMP2 gene, OR = 2.9; 95% CI = 1.34-6.35), rs6099486 (BMP7 gene, OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.14-4.38), rs762642 (BMP4 gene, OR = 2.3; 95% CI = 1.38-3.65), rs7664896 (ENAM gene, OR = 2.1; 95% CI = 1.19-3.51), rs1711399 (MMP20 gene, OR = 0.4; 95% CI = 0.20-0.72), rs1711423 (MMP20 gene, OR = 2.1; 95% CI = 1.18-3.61), rs2278163 (DLX3 gene, OR = 2.8; 95% CI = 1.26-6.41), rs6996321 (FGFR1 gene, OR = 2.7; 95% CI = 1.20-5.88), and rs5979395 (AMELX gene, OR = 11.7; 95% CI = 1.63-84.74). Through this family-based association study, we concluded that variations in genes related to amelogenesis were associated with the susceptibility to develop MIH. This result is in agreement with the multifactorial idea of the MIH aetiology, but further studies are necessary to investigate more thoroughly the factors that could influence MIH.

The End of Non-Consensual Adoption? Promoting the Wellbeing of Children in Care

In the UK, the number of children in care has been increasing for several years; such children have backgrounds characterised by trauma, abuse and neglect. The UK is almost unique in Europe in promoting adoption for children in care. Since 2010 adoption has been promoted as a favoured means of enhancing the well-being of such children unable to return to their parents or birth family members, and the number of children being adopted has increased 50% in the last 2 years. Research carried out in the US and the UK has demonstrated developmental catch up and significant improvements in adopted children’s physical and emotional well-being. However, adoption is highly contested and has come under challenge in the UK courts. This paper will link research by the two authors into this policy conflict: whether we are facing the end of adoption in the UK, and the implications for practice.

Building event-centric knowledge graphs from news

Knowledge graphs have gained increasing popularity in the past couple of years, thanks to their adoption in everyday search engines. Typically, they consist of fairly static and encyclopedic facts about persons and organizations–e.g. a celebrity’s birth date, occupation and family members–obtained from large repositories such as Freebase or Wikipedia.In this paper, we present a method and tools to automatically build knowledge graphs from news articles. As news articles describe changes in the world through the events they report, we present an approach to create Event-Centric Knowledge Graphs (ECKGs) using state-of-the-art natural language processing and semantic web techniques. Such ECKGs capture long-term developments and histories on hundreds of thousands of entities and are complementary to the static encyclopedic information in traditional knowledge graphs.We describe our event-centric representation schema, the challenges in extracting event information from news, our open source pipeline, and the knowledge graphs we have extracted from four different news corpora: general news (Wikinews), the FIFA world cup, the Global Automotive Industry, and Airbus A380 airplanes. Furthermore, we present an assessment on the accuracy of the pipeline in extracting the triples of the knowledge graphs. Moreover, through an event-centered browser and visualization tool we show how approaching information from news in an event-centric manner can increase the user’s understanding of the domain, facilitates the reconstruction of news story lines, and enable to perform exploratory investigation of news hidden facts.

Building Event-Centric Knowledge Graphs from News

Knowledge graphs have gained increasing popularity in the past couple of years, thanks to their adoption in everyday search engines. Typically, they consist of fairly static and encyclopedic facts about persons and organizations–e.g. a celebrity’s birth date, occupation and family members–obtained from large repositories such as Freebase or Wikipedia. In this paper, we present a method and tools to automatically build knowledge graphs from news articles. As news articles describe changes in the world through the events they report, we present an approach to create Event-Centric Knowledge Graphs (ECKGs) using state-of-the-art natural language processing and semantic web techniques. Such ECKGs capture long-term developments and histories on hundreds of thousands of entities and are complementary to the static encyclopedic information in traditional knowledge graphs. We describe our event-centric representation schema, the challenges in extracting event information from news, our open source pipeline, and the knowledge graphs we have extracted from four different news corpora: general news (Wikinews), the FIFA world cup, the Global Automotive Industry, and Airbus A380 airplanes. Furthermore, we present an assessment on the accuracy of the pipeline in extracting the triples of the knowledge graphs. Moreover, through an event-centered browser and visualization tool we show how approaching information from news in an event-centric manner can increase the user’s understanding of the domain, facilitates the reconstruction of news story lines, and enable to perform exploratory investigation of news hidden facts.

Cultural Differences and Perceived Belonging During Korean Adoptees' Reunions With Birth Families

ABSTRACTThe majority of past research on adoptees' reunions with birth families has focused on domestic adoptees, with little scholarly attention given to the reunions of transnational adoptees despite their large presence in western countries. To address this shortcoming in existing research, the current study explored adult Korean adoptees' reunions with their birth families, focusing on experiences of cultural differences and their perceived impact on relationships with birth family members. Nineteen adult Korean adoptees were interviewed about their reunions and relationships with their Korean birth (a.k.a., first) families. Participants reported cultural differences in family roles and expectations, standards for beauty and femininity, expectations for interactions, and past and present circumstances. These differences were reported to have a range of impacts on participants' subjective sense of belonging with birth families. Whereas some participants experienced estrangement resulting from these differences, others expressed a deep sense of belonging with their birth families. Scholarly and practical implications are discussed.