How adopters’ and foster carers’ perceptions of ‘family’ affect communicative openness in post-adoption contact interactions

Abstract

This article explores the constructions of communicative openness following adoption. Data from three waves of interviews with six adoptive mothers and four foster carers were collected, transcribed verbatim and analysed in keeping with a social constructivist grounded theory methodology. The results show that the way ‘family’ is constructed can both facilitate and impede communicative openness. Those who hold a fluid, child-centred concept of family, are willing to construct it as different and can accept the ebb and flow of family membership intuitively and view such openness as a natural part of caring for children. Those with a more traditional, nuclear construction of family may associate adoption with fear, a sense of biological related competition and the need to control the controllable, all of which act as barriers to communicative openness. The study demonstrates that communicative openness is person and context sensitive and emphasises the need to think creatively and flexibly about the very nature of family.

A Retrospective Study on Adoptive Parenthood in the First Year after the Adoption: The Role of Parents’ Attachment and Empathy on Communicative Openness

“…The current study aimed to explore the experiences parents had during the first year of the adoption while communicating with their children about adoption and to test whether parental attachment style and empathy were related to the communicative openness process. The focus on the first year of adoption was decided as the first year after the child's entry into the adoptive family is crucial for building an adoptive identity through open and emotionally attuned communication [3,11].…”

“…In addition, the first year after the child's entry into the adoptive family is crucial, as the adoptee starts to build his or her adoptive identity, where the primary developmental task is to integrate the dual belonging of the child to two families (the birth and the adoptive families). Within this process, literature has shown the CO role in promoting positive developmental outcomes for adopted children [3,11] during and beyond the first year after adoption. Communicating about adoption seems to lead to greater satisfaction with children's adoptive status [25], fostering stronger bonds within the adoptive family [26,27], and contributing to a coherent and integrated adoptive identity [11,28].…”

“…Within this process, literature has shown the CO role in promoting positive developmental outcomes for adopted children [3,11] during and beyond the first year after adoption. Communicating about adoption seems to lead to greater satisfaction with children's adoptive status [25], fostering stronger bonds within the adoptive family [26,27], and contributing to a coherent and integrated adoptive identity [11,28]. Furthermore, CO helps adoptees develop positive views of their biological parents and the adoption history, reducing feelings of rejection and loss [2,3].…”

“…Openly communicating about adoption has been considered challenging for adoptive parents [13], although it represents a key factor for the entire family's well-being [11]. Adoptive parents could perceive an open dialogue about adoption as particularly harder in the first year of adoption, where the child and parents need time to know each other and create their family identity.…”

“…Alongside that, an open dialogue in the adoptive family is essential in supporting the child's development of an adoptive identity that integrates the adoptee's past and present experiences and adoptive status [5,6]. Effective communication can help the child understand and make sense of their adoptive experience and foster the affective bond between adoptive parents and the child [9][10][11]. Therefore, research emphasized the importance of encouraging open communication between family members from the initial moments of the child's life within the adoptive family [1,12].…”