Contact in adoption is a complex issue that adoption professionals frequently negotiate. Today most adoption placements include an initial plan for contact that in many instances changes over time. By understanding contact as an issue that presents itself over the course of an adopted person's lifetime, the complexities it brings to the adoption experience can be seen. Gretchen Miller Wrobel, Harold D Grotevant, Jerica Berge, Tai Mendenhall and Ruth McRoy discuss contact from a US perspective using findings from the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Project, a longitudinal study of openness in adoption. They examine how curiosity, satisfaction with adoptive contact, family communication and searching influence decision-making about the extent of contact. Implications for adoption professionals in the USA and the UK are also presented.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnastasiA, Psychological Testing (6th edition), New York: Macmillan, 1988.
2.
BrodzinskyD MLangRSmithD, ‘Parenting adopted children’, in BornsteinM (ed), Handbook of Parenting, Vol III: Status and social conditions of parenting, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1995.
3.
Family Policy Studies Centre, Families and Adoption, Family Briefing Paper 14, London: Family Policies Centre, September 2000.
4.
FreemanM, ‘The right to be heard’, Adoption & Fostering22:4, pp 50–9, 1998/99.
5.
GrotevantH DMcRoyR G, Openness in Adoption: Exploring family connections, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1998.
6.
GrotevantH DRossNMarchelM AMcRoyR, ‘Adaptive behavior in adopted children: predictors from early risk, collaboration in relationships within the adoptive kinship network, and openness arrangements’, Journal of Adolescent Research14:2, pp 231–47, 1999.
HoweDFeastJ, Adoption, Search and Reunion: The long-term experience of adopted adults, London: The Children's Society, 2000.
9.
KirkD, Shared Fate: A theory of adoption and mental health, New York: The Free Press of Glenco, 1964.
10.
LoganJ, ‘Exchanging information post adoption: views of adoptive parents and birth parents’, Adoption & Fostering23:3, pp 27–37, 1999.
11.
MendenhallTBergeJWrobelGGrotevantHMcRoyR, ‘Adolescents' satisfaction with contact in adoption’, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, in press.
12.
NeilE, ‘The reasons why young children are placed for adoption: findings from a recently placed sample and a discussion of implications for subsequent identity development’, Child & Family Social Work5, pp 303–16, 2000.
13.
NeilE, ‘Contact after adoption: the role of agencies in making and supporting plans’, Adoption & Fostering26:1, pp 25–38, 2002.
14.
RocheHPerleszA, ‘A legitimate choice and voice: the experience of adult adoptees who have chosen not to search for their biological families’, Adoption & Fostering24:2, pp 8–19, 2000.
15.
SchechterM DBertocciD, ‘The meaning of the search’, in BrodzinskyD MSchechterM D (eds), The Psychology of Adoption, New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.
16.
SelmanP, ‘In search of origins: estimating lifetime take-up of access to birth records in England’, Poster presented at the International Conference on Adoption Research, Minneapolis, MN, August 1999.
17.
SykesM, ‘Adoption with contact: a study of adoptive parents and the impact of continuing contact with families of origin’, Adoption & Fostering24:2, pp 20–32, 2000.
18.
WrobelGAyers-LopezSGrotevantHMcRoyRFriedrickM, ‘Open adoption and the level of child participation’, Child Development67, pp 2358–74, 1996.
19.
WrobelG MGrotevantH DMcRoyR, ‘Adolescent search for birth parents: Who moves forward?’, Journal of Adolescent Research, in press.
20.
WrobelG MKohlerJ KGrotevantH DMcRoyR, The Family Adoption Communication Model (FAC): Identifying pathways of adoption-related communication, Paper presented at the 29th Annual Theory Construction and Research Methodology Workshop of the National Council on Family Relations, Irvine, CA, November 1999.
21.
WrobelG MKohlerJGrotevantH DMcRoyR, ‘Factors related to patterns of information exchange between adoptive parents and children in mediated adoptions’, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology19:4, pp 641–57, 1998.
22.
YounissJSmollarJ, Adolescent Relations with Mothers, Fathers and Friends, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985.
