Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being, Belonging, and Becoming

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Child and Family Studies Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Internationally-adopted children experience a range of challenges as they cope with the demands of everyday functioning and strive to develop a healthy identity. Research shows that family context such as parenting practices impact the level of adoptees' adjustment and their eventual identity development. In this study, we examined the process of how relationships are built between Ethiopia adoptees and their adoptive families within the new family setting. Using data obtained through semi-structured interviews, a brief survey, and focus group discussion from 25 North American families who adopted 35 Ethiopia children, we conducted a systematic content analysis to examine parents' way of being, way of understanding, and way of intervening. Based on results of this study, we provide a framework that explains the dynamic of Ethiopian adoptees' existence and belonging from pre- to post-adoption in the adoptive family. Implications for future research regarding the need for multiculturally competent parenting practices and family level strategies to reduce barriers to the child and parent relationship are addressed.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baden, A. L. (2002). The psychological adjustment of transracial adoptees: An application of the cultural-racial identity model. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 11, 167–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baden, A. L., & Steward, R. J. (2000). A framework for use with racially and culturally integrated families: The Cultural-Racial Identity Model as applied to transracial adoption. Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless, 9, 309–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baden, A. L., & Steward, R. J. (2007). The cultural-racial identity model. In: R. A. Javier, A. L. Baden, F. A. Biafora, & A. Camacho-Gingerich (eds.) Handbook of adoption: Implications for researchers, practitioners, and families (pp. 90–112). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

  • Bagley, C., & Young, L. (1979). The identity, adjustment and achievement of transracially adopted children: A review and empirical report. In G. K. Verma & C. Bagley (Eds.), Race, education and identity (pp. 192–219). London, UK: Macmillan Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barth, R. P., & Berry, M. (1988). Adoption and disruption: Rates, risks, and responses. New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basow, S. A., Lilley, E., Bookwala, J., & McGillicuddy-DeLisi, A. (2008). Identity development and psychological well-being in Korean-born adoptees in the U.S. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 78(4), 473–480.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bavelas, J. B., & Segal, L. (1982). Family systems theory: Background and Implications. Journal of Communication, 32, 99–107. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1460-2466.1982.tb02503.x.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bertran, M. (2013). Being a mother and father in international adoption in Spain: Towards the child’s wellbeing. Childhood, 20(4), 507–520.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bimmel, N., Juffer, F., Van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J. (2003). Problem behavior of internationally-adopted adolescents: A review and meta- analysis. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 11, 64–78.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bohman, M., & Sigvardsson, S. (1990). Outcome in adoption: Lessons from longitudinal studies. In D. Brodzinsky & M. Schechter (Eds.), The psychology of adoption (pp. 93–106). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charmaz, K. (1983). The ground theory method: An explanation and interpretation. In R. M. Emerson (Ed.), Contemporary field research: A collection of readings (pp. 109–126). Boston: Little, Brown.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chrisolm, K. (1998). A three year follow-up of attachment and indiscriminate friendliness in children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Child Development, 69(4), 1092–1106.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (2nd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edwards, C., Knoche, L., Aukrust, V. Kumru, A. & Kim, M. (2006) Parental ethnotheories of child development: Looking beyond independence and individualism in American belief system. In K. Uichol, K. Yang & K. Hwang (Eds.), Indigenous and cultural psychology: Understanding people in context. New York, USA: Springer.

  • Erikson, E. H.(1959). Identity and the life cycle. Psychological Issues, 1, 51–63.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frasch, K. M., & Brooks, D. (2003). Normative development in transracial adoptive families: An integration of the literature and implications for the construction of a theoretical framework. Families in Society, 84(2), 201–216.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Friedlander, M. L. (1999). Ethnic identity development of internationally-adopted children and adolescents: Implications for family therapists. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 25(1), 43–60.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gaber, I., & Aldridge, J. (Eds.) (1994). In the best interests of the child: Culture, identity and transracial adoption. London, UK: Free Association Books. .

  • Graeve, K (2012). “Making families”: parenting and belonging in transnational adoption in Flanders. Afrika Focus, 25(2), 100–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunnar, M., & Van Dulmen, M. H., The International Adoption Project Team. (2007). Behavior problems in post-institutionalized international adopted children. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 129–148.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Harkness, S., & Super, C. M. (2006). Themes and variations: Parental ethnotheories in western cultures. In K. Rubin (Eds.), Parenting beliefs, behaviors, and parent-child relations: A cross-cultural perspective (pp. 61–79). New York: Psychology Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hodges, J., & Tizard, B. (1989). IQ and behavioral adjustment of ex-institutional adolescents. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 30(1), 53–76.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hollingsworth, L. (1998). Adoptee dissimilarity from the adoptive family: Clinical practice and research implications. Child and Adolescent Work Journal, 15(4), 303–319.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Howell, S. (2003). Kinning: The creation of life trajectories in transnational adoptive families. Journal of Royal Anthropological Institute, 9, 465–484.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, H. (2008). Culture keeping: White mothers, international adoption, and the negotiation of family difference. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jacobson, H (2010). Book Review: Culture keeping: White mothers, international adoption, and the negotiation of family difference. Gender & Society, 24(4), 555–557.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juffer, F. (2006). Children’s awareness of adoption and their problem behavior in families with 7-year-old internationally adopted children. Adoption Quarterly, 9(2), 1–22.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juffer, F., & van IJzendoorn, M. H. (2007). Adoptees do not lack self-esteem: A meta-analysis of studies on self-esteem of transracial, international, and domestic adoptees. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 1067–1083.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kershaw, P. (2010). Caregiving for identity is political: Implications for citizenship theory. Citizenship Studies, 14(4), 395–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kim, N. (2007). Critical thoughts on Asian American assimilation in the whitening literature. Social Forces, 86(2), 561–574.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, R. (2009). Development and well-being of Korean adoptees. International Adoption Project News. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota. http://www.cehd.umn.edu/icd/iap/Newsletters/IAPNewsletter2009.pdf.

  • Levy-Shiff, R. (2001). Psychological adjustment of adoptees in adulthood: Family environment and adoption-related correlates. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 25(2), 97–104.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy-Shiff, R., Zoran, N., & Shulman, S. (1997). International and domestic adoption: Child, parents, and family adjustment. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 109–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Patton, M. Q. (2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.) Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Punch, S. (2012). Studying transnational children: A multi-sited, longitudinal, ethnographic approach. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 38(6), 1007–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sears, W., & Sears, M. (2001). The attachment parenting book. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, A. R., McGue, M. K., & Bensons, P. L. (1998). The psychological adjustment of United States adopted adolescents and their nonadopted siblings. Child Development, 69(3), 791–802.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Steele, M., Hodge, J., Kaniuk, J., Steele, H., Asquith, K., & Hilman, S. (2009). Attachment representations and adoption outcome: On the use of narrative assessments to track the adoption of previously maltreated children in their new families. In G. M. Wrobel & E. Neil (Eds.), International advances in adoption research for practice (pp. 193–216). West Sussex, UK: Wiley- Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stryker, R (2011). The war at home: Affective economics and transnationally adoptive families in the United States. International Migration, 49(6), 25–49

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ung, T., O’Connor, S. H. & Pillidge, R. (2012). The development of racial identity in transracially adopted people: An ecological approach. Adoption and Fostering Journal, 36(3), 73–84.

  • Van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Kroonenberg, P. M. (1988). Cross-cultural patterns of attachment: A meta-analysis of the strange situation. Child Development, 59, 147–156.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yngvesson, B. (2007). Refiguring kinship in the space of adoption. Cadernos Pagu, 29, 111–138.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yngvesson, B. (2010). Belonging in an adopted world: Race, identity, and transnational adoption. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Yngvesson, B. (2013). The child who was left behind: Dynamic temporality and interpretation of history in transnational adoption. Childhood, 20(3), 354–367.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zeleke, W. (2013). Psychological adjustment and relational development in Ethiopian adoptees and their families. Doctoral dissertation, ProQuest. UMI Number 3588046.

Download references

Author Contributions

W.A.Z.: designed and executed the study, collect the data and assisted with the data analyses, and wrote the paper. L.S.K.L.: collaborated with the design and writing of the study. G.L.: helps on analyzed the data and wrote part of the results. W.A.Z. and G.L.: collaborated with the writing of the study. L.S.K.: collaborated in the writing and editing of the final manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Counseling, Psychology and Special Needs Education, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

    Waganesh A. Zeleke & Gabriella Lock

  2. University of Montana, Missoula, MT, USA

    Lynne S. Koester

Authors
  1. Waganesh A. Zeleke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lynne S. Koester
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gabriella Lock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Waganesh A. Zeleke.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The lead author, Waganesh Zeleke, has received research grants from the vice president for Research and Creative Scholarship of the University of Montanahe. The remaining authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Institutional Review Board approval from University of Montana was obtained prior to all data collection.

Informed Consent

Participation was voluntary and written informed consent was obtained from all the participants. Informants were informed about the purpose of the study and they were informed that they could withdraw at any time from the study and cease responding to any question they felt uncomfortable. Information obtained from all the participants was anonymized and confidentiality was assured throughout the data collection process.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Zeleke, W.A., Koester, L.S. & Lock, G. Parents’ Understanding of Adopted Children’s Ways of Being, Belonging, and Becoming. J Child Fam Stud 27, 1428–1439 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0995-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-017-0995-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation