The Role of 'Family Practices' and 'Displays of Family' in the Creation of Adoptive Kinship

Jones, Christine; Hackett, Simon

doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcq017

Cited by 54 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…In a previous paper, we focused on the "kinship work" in which adoptive parents engage in order to gain and maintain a family relationship with adoptees; and retain the significance of birth relatives as family members within the adoptive family (Jones and Hackett, 2010). In this paper we focus on the challenges presented to adoptive parents when faced with the task of "redrawing the boundaries of kinship" following adoption, specifically in cases where arrangements exist for ongoing contact between adopted children and birth relatives.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redefining Family Relationships Following Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Kinship between Adoptees and Birth Relatives

Jones¹,

Hackett²

2011

British Journal of Social Work

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This is a pre-copy-editing author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in British journal of social work following peer review. The de nitive publisher-authenticated version Jones, C. and Hackett, S. (2012) 'Rede ning family relationships following adoption : adoptive parents' perspectives on the changing nature of kinship between adoptees and birth relatives.', British journal of social work., 42 (2). pp. 283-299 is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcr060Additional information: Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-pro t purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. ABSTRACTContemporary child adoption in the UK and USA has been conceptualised as an extended kinship network of adopted children, birth relatives and adopters (Reitz and Watson, 1992;Grotevant and McRoy, 1998). This contrasts sharply with the traditional model of adoption as a form of family substitution. Yet, such a reconceptualisation raises many questions about the meaning of kinship for those involved. This paper draws on data from a series of biographical interviews with 22 parents who adopted children within the UK over a 24-year period in order to explore post adoption "family relationships" from the perspective of adoptive parents. It develops an analysis of definitions of "kinship" created by adoptive parents in order to shape family relationships following adoption, in particular, the processes through which birth relatives are rendered marginal or integral to adoptive family life. The relevance of current adoption policy and professional practices to these processes is explored.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Redefining Family Relationships Following Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Kinship between Adoptees and Birth Relatives

Jones¹,

Hackett²

2011

British Journal of Social Work

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“…Openness requires adopters to reconceptualise the meaning of kinship and to re-draw the boundaries of their family (Jones and Hackett, 2011a). Grotevant (2009) proposes that adoption creates a new kinship network that includes members of the adoptive and birth families with the child in central position.…”

Section: Contact and Adoptive Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A view of kinship that includes adoptive and birth family members is still outside of social norms (Jones and Hackett, 2011a) and adopters who embrace the notion of the adoptive kinship network lack a cultural script to follow and can feel uncertain and isolated (Grotevant, 2009). …”

Section: Contact and Adoptive Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Open Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Experiences of Birth Family Contact and Talking to Their Child about Adoption

MacDonald¹,

McSherry²

2011

Adoption & Fostering

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The trend towards more open adoption presents adopters with unique parenting challenges associated with satisfying the child's curiosity about their origins and maintaining relationships with birth family through contact. This article by Mandi MacDonald and Dominic McSherry focuses on the experiences of 20 sets of adoptive parents who were interviewed as part of the Northern Ireland Care Pathways and Outcomes Study. Interviews were analysed following the principles of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). The article explores adoptive parents' experience of talking to their child about adoption and of post-adoption contact with members of the birth family. Adopters discussed adoption sensitively with their child but were concerned that difficult and complex family histories would present a risk to the child's self-esteem and emotional well-being. All forms of contact proved emotionally and practically burdensome; however, adopters were committed to making it work for the child's benefit and were open to increased contact should the child wish it in the future. There was little relationship with birth family outside of formal contact. The study reveals the need for a mechanism to facilitate communication with birth families if adopters are to be able to respond to the child's changing need for contact and information.

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“…Whilst across all of the interviews this type of account of birth families was in the minority (with a greater majority of participants wishing to distance themselves from birth families), for this participant and others like her it was possible to reconcile the daily 'presence' of birth family members in the house by emphasising the need to honour birth families. Research conducted by Jones and Hackett (2011) has similarly found that some adoptive parents emphasise the need to incorporate birth families into the adoptive family, even if at times this can be challenging. In the present research, these challenges often arose from trying to find ways to negotiate a place for birth families within the foster family in the face of assessments about the 'poor parenting' of birth families:…”

Section: Impact Of Potential Abuse Allegations On Family Intimacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Australian foster carers’ negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children

Riggs

2015

Families, Relationships and Societies

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This article seeks to examine what are argued to be a particular set of non-normative relationships between Australian foster carers, the children in their care, the children’s birth parents, and agency workers who act as legal guardians for children who are removed from their birth parents. Eightyfive Australian foster carers participated in interviews on the topic of foster family life. Coding of responses to questions related to agency workers, abuse allegations and birth parents suggested a novel topic of ‘intimacy’ in regards to foster carers’ experiences of these three areas. Findings indicate three key themes within the overarching focus on intimacy: (a) the impact of abuse allegations on foster family intimacy, (b) the intimate presence of birth families and (c) what are termed ‘awkward intimacies’ with agency workers. While such intimacies may be viewed as non-normative, they nonetheless would appear to play a formative role in interactions between all parties, and thus warrant ongoing attention.

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The Role of 'Family Practices' and 'Displays of Family' in the Creation of Adoptive Kinship

Cited by 54 publications

References 7 publications

Redefining Family Relationships Following Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Kinship between Adoptees and Birth Relatives

Redefining Family Relationships Following Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Perspectives on the Changing Nature of Kinship between Adoptees and Birth Relatives

Open Adoption: Adoptive Parents' Experiences of Birth Family Contact and Talking to Their Child about Adoption

Australian foster carers’ negotiations of intimacy with agency workers, birth families and children

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