‘It's Quite a Journey’: Australian Parents’ Experience of Adopting Older Children from Overseas Orphanages

Abstract

Intercountry adoption, often of children post-infancy, is one way of forming a family in Australia. However, few studies have invited Australian parents who have incorporated older children into their family to tell their story. Fathers are under-represented in studies of parenting generally and adoptive parenting specifically.As part requirement for a clinical psychology dissertation, with ethics approval from the relevant university, 28 parents (13 fathers and 15 mothers) were interviewed about their experiences of adopting children over the age of 24 months from orphanages in China, Ethiopia, India and Thailand. Although parents' experiences and recollections were diverse, almost all parents had been confronted by difficult child behaviours, at least initially. Contrary to previous research, the child's gender, age or duration of institutional care did not appear related to parental experience.Six major themes emerged from parent interviews: (1) the long wait and intense emotions of adoption; (2) disparity between expectations and reality; (3) recognition of children's difficult past experiences; (4) parenting as a path to self-discovery; (5) the perception of needing to present as coping; and (6) unmet needs. Mothers blamed themselves for their children's behavioural problems, rather than attributing difficulties to children's previous adverse life events. Both mothers and fathers were reluctant to use support services because they felt scrutinised and feared repercussions, and those who sought assistance generally found professionals ill-informed and unhelpful. Parents made recommendations about how the adoptive parenting process could be improved and expressed a strong desire for more information, both pre-and post-placement.

Related factors to paternal adaptation: A cross-sectional study for first-time fathers

“…So disturbance in marital relationships can cause disturbance in father's performance and prevent parental participation. [121] On these results, empowerment of fathers in marital relationship and supporting them to have a marital satisfaction can facilitate their adaptation in paternal roles.…”

“…In the process of becoming a father, which generally occurs by joining a child to the family, numerous adaptations in social activities and personal affairs are needed. [1] Paternal adaptation is defined as understanding the fatherhood concept, accepting requirements of fatherhood (attaining paternal attributes and traits and performing roles and duties), and understanding the evolution and changes related to fathering, which will ultimately lead to stability in paternal position concerning self-efficacy and parental satisfaction. More specifically, paternal adaptation can be defined as the ability to perform the paternal roles and responsibilities, perceiving the parental development, stabilization in paternal position, attaining spiritual stability and feeling of internal satisfaction, and eliminating challenges and worries.…”

‘She’s mine!’ – The lived experience of becoming parents through international adoption

“…In giving voice to the emotional and psychological experiences of adoptive parents and their process of feeling that they are the parents to their internationally adopted children, this paper attempts to add to the bank of knowledge of adoption literature and to the process of parenting in its own right. In addition, in contrast to the majority of research that focuses only on the experience of adoptive mothers (Alessia, 2008), this study takes into account the experience of both mothers and fathers.…”

Paternal adaptation and related factors in Iranian fathers

“…Studies have provided contradictory results about the effects of these factors on paternal adaptation. Therefore, recognizing fatherhood and adapting to a paternal role requires extensive information in different countries and cultures (Alessia & Roufeil, 2012).…”