Conference Presentations at the International Conference on Adoption Research 8 (ICAR8):
Oral Presentation: Cutoffs, Estrangements, and Complex Adoptive Family Relationships
Presenters: Dr. Amanda Baden (adoptee), Dr. Adam Kim, Dr. Amy Kobus, Mr. Marcus Jasmin, Dr. Rebecca Randall, Ms. Meggin Holtz, Ms. Tatia Haywood, Ms. Kafi Nsenkyire.
Introduction/Background
Adoptions connect a child with a forever family, however narratives from adopted individuals reveal that adoptive families are not always for forever. The master narrative of adoption is that children in need of families are placed into happy families with whom they will spend the rest of their lives. This narrative overlooks that adoption necessitates the dissolution of another family. Therefore, adoptive family ruptures represent a unique experience that needs to be understood in the context of adoption. To date, no research examines estrangement within adoption. We have two research questions: (a) How do adopted individuals experience estrangement?; (b) What are the precursors to, and implications of, estrangement?
Symposium: Emerging Evidence on Living the Adopted Life: Adopted Individuals Health, Parenting, and Discrimination in Adulthood
Presenters: Dr. Hollee McGinnis, Dr. JaeRan Kim, Dr. Amanda Baden, Dr. Adam Kim, Dr. Gina Samuels.
INTRODUCTION: The impact of adoption affects an individual throughout their lifespan. Yet despite this lifelong impact, little research has considered how this development impacts adoptees beyond young adulthood. Responding to this gap, the present symposium comprises preliminary findings from three papers that aim to understand health, parenting, and discrimination among adoptee individuals in adulthood.
METHODS: The present papers utilize cross-section survey data from a national sample (N= 464) of U.S. adoptees (18+) conducted by the first author using mixed-methods, decolonizing and participatory methods. Participants were primarily women (n=310), Asian (n=202) or White (n=147); adopted internationally (n= 212), domestically (n=144), and from foster care (n=98), with the majority raised in transracial (n=261) adoptive families.
Paper Presentation: Quantifying Experiences of Adoption Microaggressions in Adulthood
Qualitative studies on adoption microaggressions have identified over 17 common adoption micro aggression categories. Using the sample of 464 adult adoptees, adoptees reported the frequency to which they experienced comments, attitudes, or behaviors that send insulting, invalid, or fictionalized messages about adoption via a 35-item measure of adoption microaggressions. We will review the findings related to this new measure for studying adoptees and their families.