Motherhood Silenced

Kelly, Ruth; Kelly, Shirley

doi:10.2307/20624141

Cited by 13 publications

(9 citation statements)

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“…It was approved by the Behavioural Research Ethics Board at the University of British Columbia. A qualitative method, grounded in the theory of social constructionism, is useful to a study that seeks to understand how birth parents describe, construct, and assign meaning to their experiences and the world around them (Kelly, 2005). Qualitative research also has an inherent openness and fl exibility that allows modifi cation of the design to apprehend emergent discoveries and relationships, which can generate results that are understandable and experientially credible (Maxwell, 2005).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have included unresolved, prolonged, unacknowledged, and complicated grief, shame, and guilt; negative self-image; diffi culty in intimate relationships; challenges in parenting subsequent children; fantasies of reunion; anxiety; and trauma (Condon, 1986;DeSimone, 1996;Deykin et al, 1984;Kelly, 2005;Logan, 1996;Rynearson, 1982;Smith, 2006;Wiley & Baden 2005;Winkler & Van Keppel, 1984). This study seeks to learn how birth mothers respond to their loss and how they cope in an open-adoption relationship.…”

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

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Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Krahn¹,

Sullivan²

2015

cswr

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While research has explored birth parent grief and loss, it has not been thorough in exploring how the experience of having an open adoption affects birth parents’ grief and loss experience and resolution. Previous research has highlighted positive effects of open adoptions to date, but is quite limited in regards to the birth parents’ adjustment in current day, open adoptions. This descriptive, qualitative study explores birth parents’ experiences in current day, open adoptions and seeks to understand their experience of grief and loss and their movement towards grief resolution in the context of an open adoption. Findings of this study confirm that the experience of adoption placement involves grief and loss and that openness in adoption helps to mitigate this painful experience. Most notably, birth parents found meaning, comfort, and peace in knowing of their child’s well-being and by having ongoing involvement in the life of the child and adoptive family. This opens new avenues in thinking about adoption and the meanings participants make of it.Même si la recherche s’est penchée sur le deuil et la peine des parents biologiques, elle n’a pas approfondi l’effet d’une adoption ouverte sur leur douleur et leurs façons de composer avec celle-ci. Des recherches ont montré les effets positifs de l’adoption ouverte, mais elles ont peu abordé l’adaptation dont doivent faire preuve les parents biologiques ayant choisi l’adoption ouverte de nos jours. La présente étude descriptive et qualitative explore l’expérience vécue par les parents biologiques et cherche à comprendre leur deuil et leur peine ainsi que leurs façons de les surmonter. Les résultats montrent que la décision de confier un enfant à l’adoption s’accompagne d’un deuil et d’une peine, et qu’une ouverture permet d’atténuer la douleur d’une telle action. En particulier, les parents biologiques ont trouvé un réconfort à être au courant du bien-être de leur enfant et à garder contact avec celui-ci et sa famille adoptive. Cette étude ouvre de nouvelles perspectives au sujet de l’adoption et du sens que les participants lui donnent

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Krahn¹,

Sullivan²

2015

cswr

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“…Others maintain they did not ever sign the required paperwork. It appears that a culture of forced adoption prevailed in Australia, with associated stigma and stereotypes that silenced these parents for decades (O'Halloran, 2006;Kelly, 2005; The Senate Community Affairs References Committee, 2012).…”

Section: The Institution Of Closed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Across decades in the mid-twentieth century, the accepted, positive narrative of closed adoption contained an array of powerful assumptions and social prescriptions that served to disenfranchise, exclude and render birth parents invisible and silent (Kelly, 2005). For example, unmarried mothers were labelled immoral, hence the need for secrecy so the child (and the mother) did not carry the social stigma.…”

Section: The Institution Of Closed Adoptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Broadening notions of ‘missing persons’ to increase social inclusion, public empathy and healing: Considering the case of children missing through adoption

Gair

Moloney

2013

Journal of Social Inclusion

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A missing person is defined as someone whose whereabouts are unknown and fears exist for the safety and welfare of that person. Families of a reported missing person experience many emotions including unresolved grief and ambiguous loss as they manage day to day with the traumatising reality of their loved one being psychologically present but physically absent. While not diminishing that recognised trauma, there are families with missing members who do not fit the usual social script of 'missing persons', and as a result, these families may gain different levels of public acknowledgement, support and empathy. An example is the trauma and loss felt by birth parents, tinged with a painful but enduring optimism of a reunion with their child, which might be better understood through a 'missing person' lens. Drawing on the personal narrative of the second author and past research of the first author, we seek to illuminate the ongoing trauma and ambiguous loss felt when a child is missing through adoption. We argue for a broader notion of 'missing persons' that could benefit families who remain excluded from social support and

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“…Research later revealed a legacy of lifelong grief for many birth mothers, the severity of which could increase over time (Shawyer, 1979;Inglis, 1984;Winkler and van Keppel, 1984). Evidence exists of a prescribed or 'forced' adoption culture and a stereotyping and silencing of birth mothers across some decades of the 20th century (Page, 1984;Kelly, 2005;O'Halloran, 2006). It is commonly considered that while the trauma and social stigma of past adoptions still may be felt by past birth mothers, the contributing 'unmarried mother' stigma has gone, although this is not to say that stigma surrounding birth parents' competency to parent in more contemporary adoptions from care in Britain and Australia would not exist (Overington, 2007;Taylor et al, 2008).…”

Section: Past Adoption Stigma Stereotypes and Social Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Work Students' Thoughts on Their (in)Ability to Empathise with a Birth Mother's Story: Pondering the Need for a Deeper Focus on Empathy

Gair

2010

Adoption & Fostering

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Empathy is considered in the literature to be crucial to any successful therapeutic engagement. But how to teach, learn and ‘do’ empathy seems much less clear. Susan Gair discusses how, through the use of selected narratives in a classroom-based inquiry, second-year social work students at a regional Australian university were guided to define the concept of empathy and to reflect on their ability to empathise. Findings illuminated some students' compassionate empathy, while many others demonstrated conditional empathy or even an apparent lack of it with regard to certain life experiences, including those of past birth mothers. These serendipitous findings have implications for adoption practice and beyond.

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Motherhood Silenced

Cited by 13 publications

References 0 publications

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Broadening notions of ‘missing persons’ to increase social inclusion, public empathy and healing: Considering the case of children missing through adoption

Social Work Students' Thoughts on Their (in)Ability to Empathise with a Birth Mother's Story: Pondering the Need for a Deeper Focus on Empathy

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