Searching for Siblings: The Motivations and Experiences of Adults Seeking Contact with Adopted Siblings

Abstract

In recent years the nature of birth sibling relationships has become a subject of considerable attention within the care system and in relation to adoption. It is now generally recognised that knowledge of and, if possible, contact between adopted children and their birth siblings is of major importance for the identity formation of individual children. However, the significance of this for later life has been little explored. What is the importance of introducing or sustaining contact between siblings who may never have lived together, who only know each other superficially or who are not even aware of each other's existence? One way of shedding more light on such sibling relations is to look at sibling separations and, in particular, at birth siblings who in adult life search for an adopted brother or sister. A significant proportion of birth relatives who approach Barnardo's for information about an adopted adult are birth siblings. They seek information and help to trace their adopted sibling in order to gain contact and reunion. The research reported by Anna Ludvigsen and Jo Parnham focuses on birth siblings' motivations for searching, their feelings in relation to the search and their experiences of contact and reunion with their ‘lost’ sibling.