The experience of adoption.

This research is directed toward understanding the meaning of adoption from the point of view of the adopted child. To this end the research is primarily focused on stories which have been produced and told by children who are adopted. The process of storytelling is seen both as a method with which to interpret the inner-world of the adopted child, and as a technique for aiding the pedagogical as well as the psychological development of the child. The aim is to further a practical understanding of what it means to be an adopted child in our society. That is, an understanding which is useful to all those who are involved in the personal development of the child, whether they be parents, teachers, counselors, or adoption agency specialists. The research can also have a role in informing decisions regarding policies and revelation guidelines for adoptive families. The results of the study are revealed in the six themes which emerge from the children's stories. The themes are: Being cut off or dismembered; identity confusion; being different; a sense of being alive yet dead; woundedness and bereavement; and ambivalence toward the mother or parent figure. Most significantly, the children's stories clearly demonstrate: (1) how the experience of adoption can be understood from the viewpoint of adoptees during their childhood years, and (2) that children themselves can be the most reliable resource in research involving the experience of children. The first chapter provides a general introduction and outlines the main goals for the study. The second chapter reviews the literature in the field, indicating how this study builds on and adds to prior research in the field of adoption studies. Chapter 3 discusses the research design and the methods used to analyze the data. The findings are then structured into two chapters. The first analyzes the data in terms of the individual children, while the second synthesizes the themes common to all the stories. The final chapter draws conclusions about the study, also examining its implications for the educational development of adopted children.Ph.D.Developmental psychologyEducationEducational psychologyIndividual and family studiesPsychologySocial SciencesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/128934/2/9303749.pd