“And so they wrangled before the King ...” Kings II, Ch. V
Abstract
In all cases of newborn adoption where placement is made directly into the permanent adoptive home, the adoptive parents become the psychological parents for that child. While adoptive parents enter the development phase of parenthood, the task is complicated by the fact that the child they are about to raise is not their biological child. We discuss the biological and psychological foundations of parenthood and examine the tasks that adoptive parents face when confronted with either an open or confidential adoption. We focus on the ways in which either procedure may assist or disrupt the adoptive parents' ability to form and maintain an on-going healthy attachment to the child.
There is a new trend in the field of child welfare toward “openness in adoption”, which purports to change traditional confidential adoptions. We discuss the crucial aspects of the intrapsychic difference for an adoptive parent experiencing an open or confidential adoption.
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Additional information
This paper was presented to the National Committee for Adoption Convention, October, 1982; the First International Conference on Pediatric Social Work, August, 1982 and to the Child Care Association of Illinois Convention, April, 1982. All authors have the M.A. degree and are affiliated with St. Mary's Services, an Episcopal Child Welfare Agency, est. 1894, 5725 North Kenmore Avenue, Chicago, IL 60660.
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Kraft, A.D., Palombo, J., Mitchell, D.L. et al. Some theoretical considerations on contifential adoptions, part II: The adoptive parent. Child Adolesc Soc Work J 2, 69–82 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757473
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00757473