Adult Adoptees as Partners and Parents: The Joint Task of Revisiting the Adoption History

Abstract

Adoption is unanimously considered a lifelong process, but adulthood and parenthood are life cycle stages that up to now have been explored only marginally. The principal aim of the present study is twofold: first, to analyze whether and how parenthood might lead the adoptee and his/her partner to reinterpret the adoption history and, second, to verify whether the attitudes of the two partners concerning adoption are similar or complementary. Thirty-four couples consisting of one adopted and one non-adopted partner, now parents, were interviewed and a graphic instrument, the Double Moon Test, was administered. Results revealed that most couples showed a shared attitude in valorizing both the origin background and the adoptive family. However, in a number of cases a divergent position emerged, highlighting the crucial role of the non-adopted partner in encouraging the adoptee to revisit his/her adoption history. Overall, the practical relevance of the research findings is discussed and future direction of research are suggested.Adoption cannot be considered a single life event, as it has to be properly viewed as a lifelong process (Brodzinsky, Schechter, & Marantz Henig, 1992): Each specific turning point allows for a reinterpretation of the adoption history and personal identity and a negotiation of the family relational network.

If You Shared My Happiness, You Are Part of Me: Capitalization and the Experience of Couple Identity

“…Third, data for both studies were collected from a convenience sample of well-functioning couples. This limits the generalizability of the present findings and may be different in distressed partners or couples facing non-normative transitions (e.g., Hershenberg, Mavandadi, Baddeley, & Libet, 2016; Greco, Rosnati, & Ferrari, 2015). In addition, the couples of our sample were homogeneous in terms of culture.…”

Social and Family Factors Related to Intercountry Adoptees and Immigrants’ Bicultural Identity Integration

“…In addition, multiple aspects of parenting including the exposure to dominant culture, discrimination experiences, and parents’ investment of economic, cultural, and social resources (Gibson, 2009; Hamilton et al, 2007) should be considered to provide a more comprehensive understanding of family processes and to assess the impact on adolescent’s adjustment. Finally, future studies should compare different generations of immigrants (i.e., second, third generations) as well as the attitude in valorizing their origin background and history (Greco, Rosnati, & Ferrari, 2015) to depict a clearer picture of differences and similarities among immigrant and adoptees.…”

Hidden among the hidden: Transracially adopted Korean American adults raising multiracial children.

“…But Korean adoptees do not stay children forever; the majority of Korean adoptees are now adults with families of their own. However, there is scant research on adoptees' experiences as parents (e.g., Day, Godon-Decoteau, & Suyemoto, 2015;Greco, Rosnati, & Ferrari, 2014), including Korean transracial adoptees' experiences of engaging in cultural socialization with their own children.…”