The decision to raise an adopted child: the survival of the process

The question of fostering and adoption became very relevant since authorities started talking about moving children from foster home to families that want and can take care of then and ensure full family development. The preparation for this process for the family is a great challenge, which demands realising expectations, preparing to change life framework, evaluate their possibilities and abilities and so on. The survey was created to reveal the depth of the pre-process features. A quantitative research method has been selected, the basis of which was data collected via half structured interview, which was processed referring to the method of phenomenological analysis by A. Giorgi. The purpose of this research is to reveal the authentic experience of families‘decision to raise a foster child, describe their perceived and realized subjective experience, focusing attention to the specific challenges. After observation interview objectives of the study were formulated, which helped to reveal the essence of the research phenomenon: 1) reveal the reasons, expectations, motives and stanges of women decision making to raise a foster child; 2) to define the phenomenon of subjective experience when making a decision to raise a foster child? Data of six research participants (women) were analysed. The selected women had experience in fostering or adoption and were able to reflect on it. The following features of experiences to raise a foster child have been revealed after analysing the decision of caregivers/stepmothers: women go through various experiences when making a decision to raise a foster child in their families that are connected to adaptation in the new role of motherhood. Most of the participants of the research link the experiences to negative emotions and feelings: obscurity, lack of trust in themselves, fear for the future, change of every day habits, the upcoming life changes, insecurities for their or their children health, lack of own competence. Psychological preparation in the stages of preparation for fostering or adoption includes the cognitive segment (a complex of imagination, knowledge, and information), emotional segment (feelings, emotional relationships and experiences connected to them), motivational segment (a final decision to foster or adopt) and family segment (relationship with husband). Few new features of the experience to raise a foster child have been revealed after comparing the data of the analysis to data of other similar analysis: in all stages of fostering and adoption (decision to adopt, preparation to adopt, foster child‘s adaption in the family and vice versa) families experience various crisis. One of the most important things in successful fostering or adoption is motivation and training. Even after accepting a child into their families, foster/adopted mothers are not able to forget their infertility problems or the loss of their biological child (mourning never ends, there is no such ritual that would help to come to terms with loss). Foster/adopted mothers stated, that due to the motherhood instinct they felt, that they are able to love a foster child, they feel emotional connection and affection