Parental perspectives on adoption communication within Portuguese adoptive families: Children/adolescents

Abstract

Adoption communication is a key topic in adoption research. Still there are few studies which address adoption communication simultaneously in terms of quantity, quality and content of communication, taking into account specific age groups of adoptees. The main purpose of this study is to characterize family adoption communication according to parents’ perspective within adoptive families with school-aged children and adoptive families with adolescents. A hundred adoptive parents, 74% mothers and 26% fathers, belonging to families with school-aged children and with adolescent adoptees participated in this study. The measure used was the Parents’ Interview about the Adoption Process. The results of this study allow the description of the parents’ perspective on the quantity, quality and content of the communication about adoption, and to analyse the adoption communication within families with children and families with adolescents. Implications for future research and adoption professional practice are also discussed.

Keywords:

• adoption communication
• parental perspectives
• children and adolescent adoptees
• Portuguese adoptive families

Notes

1. A family with a 12-year-old and one with a 19-year-old were included in the study because they matched other criteria.

2. For the children adopted before the age of 2.5, we established a placement minimum age of 2.5 years, considering this age as recommended to start talking about adoption.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under Grant [project PEst-OE/PSI/UI0050/2014 and SFRH/BD/77316/2011, SFRH/BD/81842/2011, SFRH/BD/87021/2012].