Adoptive Parents’ Suspicion and Coping With the Possibility of Child Abduction for International Adoption in China

Abstract

In this study, we investigated (1) whether adoptive parents suspected their children might have been victims of abduction for adoption in China and (2) for parents who were uncertain if their own children might be victims of child abduction for adoption, how they coped with the possibility. A total of 342 adoptive parents (representing 529 adopted Chinese children) completed an anonymous online survey on their experiences. Of the 342 parents, 154 (45%) described how they coped with the possibility that their children might be the victims of child abduction for adoption. In terms of suspicion, we found that for about 70% of the children, the parents responded Never; for 18.5% of the children, the parents responded Rarely; for 11.7% of the children, the parents responded Sometimes; and for about 1% of the children, the parents responded that they Always suspected that their children might be victims of abduction for adoption. In terms of coping with the possibility that their children might have been victims of child abduction for adoption, thematic analysis on the 154 parents’ descriptions revealed that parents experienced one or more of seven emotional reactions: sadness, frustration/helplessness, complicity/guilt, anger, fear/worry, hypervigilance, resolve, as well as the belief that they were not affected. Finally, we discussed contributing factors to child abduction for adoption and to adoptive parents’ suspicion of such a practice.