Adoption in the Bondage of the Oedipal Myth

Abstract

This article examines the effect of the Oedipal myth on the axiomatic link between adoption and confidentiality. Rank's interpretation, which centers on the choice between knowing and living, is presented as an explanation for the dominance of the generally accepted policy of confidential adoption. It is proposed that confidentiality, which entails concealing the child's whereabouts from the biological parents, suggests that “Laius might kill Oedipus,” thereby attributing evil intentions to the biological parents even in cases where it is their inability, not their evil intent, that leads to the adoption of the child. It is proposed that this portrayal of biological parents might impede adoption and could be avoided if the general policy of adoption were not bound by confidentiality.