Critical Relational Displays

‘It's All a Bit Pantomime’: An Exploratory Study of Gay and Lesbian Adopters and Foster-Carers in England and Wales

“…Participants' relationships and families therefore appeared to be rendered unintelligible within the heteronormative context of the adoption and fostering assessment. This supports the work of Almack, (2011), Gabb, (2011 and Heaphy (2011), who suggest that those who do not fit within traditional scripts for kinship may find displaying family difficult, as they do not sit within dominant realms of meaning or recognition. Furthermore, it illustrates that the nuclear family, and its corresponding roles and responsibilities, remains a powerful ideology and one which inevitably permeates adoption and fostering social work.…”

“…For applicants, this means that they must consistently display their family and themselves in ways that are conventional, conservative, or 'ordinary' (Hicks, 2011: 72). This is underscored by a concern that more complex aspects of relationships and identities may be misinterpreted or ignored by professionals, as these do not fit within a hetero-gendered frame of reference (Finch, 2007;Heaphy, 2011;Gabb, 2011;Almack, 2011).…”

“…Whilst there have been fundamental changes for lesbians and gay men entering the adoption or fostering processes in England and Wales, this study suggests that the field remains configured by dominant familial and sexual scripts related to what normatively constitutes the 'right kind' of family or parent (Heaphy, 2011). For applicants, this means that they must consistently display their family and themselves in ways that are conventional, conservative, or 'ordinary' (Hicks, 2011: 72).…”

“…For those families which deviate from the traditional hetero-nuclear form, the impetus to display the positive nature or meanings of such relationships will be greater. This indicates that acts of display are both impacted by wider power relations and can be open to differing interpretations (Almack, 2011;Heaphy, 2011;Gabb, 2011). Those groups who do not fit within dominant or culturally recognised forms of family may inadvertently fall outside of "wider systems of meaning" (Finch, 2007: 67).…”

“…Though it is beyond the scope of this article, the normalising and regulatory activities of social workers that this professional gaze relates to, has been widely written about; see for example, Parton (1999) who draws on the work of Foucault to examine structural power within social work institutions and practices. The concept of 'display' as developed by Finch and Mason (1993) and Finch (2007), amongst others (Almack, 2011;Doucet, 2011;Gabb, 2011;Heaphy, 2011) provides a useful conceptual lens for exploring this further. Finch (2007) contends that family is not only performed in everyday interactions and meaning making, but that it also needs to be 'displayed'.…”