Many faces of openness in adoption: Perspectives of adopted adolescents and their parents

Harold D. Grotevant; Gretchen Miller Wrobel; Lynn Von Korff; Brooke Skinner; Jane Newell; Sarah Friese; Ruth McRoy

doi:10.1080/10926750802163204

Many faces of openness in adoption: Perspectives of adopted adolescents and their parents

Harold D. Grotevant, Gretchen Miller Wrobel, Lynn Von Korff, Brooke Skinner, Jane Newell, Sarah Friese, Ruth McRoy

Life Course Center

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

55 Scopus citations

Abstract

Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	79-101
Number of pages	23
Journal	Adoption Quarterly
Volume	10
Issue number	3-4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10926750802163204
State	Published - 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Address correspondence to: Harold D. Grotevant, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 619 Tobin Hall, 135 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01002, USA (E-mail: [email protected]) Support for the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project is acknowledged, with gratitude, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Science Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation; Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We especially thank the adoptive parents, adopted children, and birth mothers for generously sharing their perspectives with us over a number of years.

Keywords

Adopted adolescents
Adoption
Adoptive kinship network
Birth parent contact
Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project
Openness in adoption
Satisfaction

Publisher link

10.1080/10926750802163204

Find It

Find It at U of M Libraries

Cite this

@article{f213a2bed8244767865f887d86230894,

title = "Many faces of openness in adoption: Perspectives of adopted adolescents and their parents",

abstract = "Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.",

keywords = "Adopted adolescents, Adoption, Adoptive kinship network, Birth parent contact, Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project, Openness in adoption, Satisfaction",

author = "Grotevant, {Harold D.} and Wrobel, {Gretchen Miller} and {Von Korff}, Lynn and Brooke Skinner and Jane Newell and Sarah Friese and Ruth McRoy",

note = "Funding Information: Address correspondence to: Harold D. Grotevant, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 619 Tobin Hall, 135 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01002, USA (E-mail: [email protected]) Support for the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project is acknowledged, with gratitude, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Science Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation; Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We especially thank the adoptive parents, adopted children, and birth mothers for generously sharing their perspectives with us over a number of years.",

year = "2007",

doi = "10.1080/10926750802163204",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "10",

pages = "79--101",

journal = "Adoption Quarterly",

issn = "1092-6755",

publisher = "Routledge",

number = "3-4",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Many faces of openness in adoption

T2 - Perspectives of adopted adolescents and their parents

AU - Grotevant, Harold D.

AU - Wrobel, Gretchen Miller

AU - Von Korff, Lynn

AU - Skinner, Brooke

AU - Newell, Jane

AU - Friese, Sarah

AU - McRoy, Ruth

N1 - Funding Information: Address correspondence to: Harold D. Grotevant, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 619 Tobin Hall, 135 Hicks Way, Amherst, MA 01002, USA (E-mail: [email protected]) Support for the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project is acknowledged, with gratitude, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development; National Science Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation; Office of Population Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; and the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health. We especially thank the adoptive parents, adopted children, and birth mothers for generously sharing their perspectives with us over a number of years.

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.

AB - Parents and adolescents (mean age, 15.7 years) from 177 adoptive families participating in the second wave of the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project were interviewed about their post-adoption contact arrangements. The sample included families with no contact, stopped contact, contact without meetings, and contact with face-to-face meetings between the adolescent and birth mother. Openness arrangements were dynamic, and different openness arrangements were associated with different experiences and feelings. Adoptive families with contact reported having higher levels of satisfaction about their openness arrangements, experiencing more positive feelings about the birth mother, and possessing more factual and personal knowledge about the birth mother than did families without contact. Adolescents and adoptive mothers in the contact with meetings group reported the greatest satisfaction with their openness arrangements; those with no contact or stopped contact reported the least satisfaction with their arrangements. Participants having no contact were more likely to want the intensity of contact to increase in the future rather than stay the same. Many participants already having contact wanted it to increase in the future. Fewer than 1 percent of all participants wanted to see the intensity of contact decrease.

KW - Adopted adolescents

KW - Adoption

KW - Adoptive kinship network

KW - Birth parent contact

KW - Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project

KW - Openness in adoption

KW - Satisfaction

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67650502769&partnerID=8YFLogxK

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=67650502769&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1080/10926750802163204

DO - 10.1080/10926750802163204

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:67650502769

SN - 1092-6755

VL - 10

SP - 79

EP - 101

JO - Adoption Quarterly

JF - Adoption Quarterly

IS - 3-4

ER -

Many faces of openness in adoption: Perspectives of adopted adolescents and their parents

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Publisher link

Find It

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this