2017 Volume 30 Issue 2 Pages 134-148
When child A was 4 years and 3 months old, her adoptive mother told her that she was adopted. Based on an analysis of episodes of exchanges between the mother and child A over the next 6 years, this paper examined the process of rebuilding that parent-child relationship.
Questions from and remarks by child A were analyzed using the “psychosocial model of adoption adjustment” (Brodzinsky et al., 1993).
The attitudes of the adoptive mother were categorized and analyzed using the KJ method.
Child A’s questions and remarks and responses by the adoptive mother were grouped, revealing that:
(1) “An understanding of the adoption system” developed from “an understanding of the parentchild relationship” of other families. That understanding of adoption then gradually led to “an understanding of the adopted child-parent relationship” and finally to “rebuilding the parent-child relationship based on an understanding of the adopted child-parent relationship.” The adoptive mother mainly provided information about the parent-child relationship and adoption as needed so that child A could understand their parent-child relationship.
(2) The adoptive mother consulted with child A’s homeroom teacher about ways to deal with child A's origins in class and the adoptive mother instructed child A to limit the sharing of information about her adoption so that child A would avoid the stigma of being adopted. In addition, the adoptive mother frequently used positive wording when addressing child A so that she would have a high level of self-affirmation, and the mother instilled in child A “the strength to cope with being stigmatized.” When child A was distressed, the adoptive mother treated her feelings with empathy as a parent. Presumably, “the parent-child relationship was rebuilt via the adopted child’s psychological state.”
(3) As child A grew, she completed various adoption adjustment tasks and the parent-child relationship was rebuilt with 2 aspects. This may have resulted in a process that incorporated “rebuilding of the non-biological parent-child relationship.”
