AbstractsSocial Work

The sharing of origins in adoption.

by Mary. Stevenson




Institution: McGill University
Department: School of Social Work.
Degree: Masters in Social Work.
Year: 1952
Keywords: Social Work.
Record ID: 1515673
Full text PDF: http://digitool.library.mcgill.ca/thesisfile123853.pdf


Abstract

The study is an inquiry into a group of 25 adolescent adopted children who have been in their adoptive homes for at least ten years. It attempts to derive limited knowledge and tentative conclusions pertaining to the way in which these children have evolved a concept of themselves as adopted children and the general success of the adoption. A research interview elicited the parents’ appraisal of the extent and manner in which own origins had been shared with the children and, also, the parents’ estimate of how the adoption had turned out. Origin of the Study: The need for a study on adoptions grew out of the questions of a private child caring agency. This agency, The Protestant Foster Home Centre, is a member agency of the Protestant federation of community agencies. The investigation of applicants requesting children for adoption and the placement of children for adoption is one of the services of the agency. The agency recognizes the need for a continuous evaluation of its service to the community. Wetha Kelly expresses something of the thinking of the agency: “It has been said that too little is known about adoption. There is a dearth of information about the outcome of adoptive placement which ultimately and definitely terminates in the legal creation of parent to child. For the child and his new parents, this termination is only the beginning. What happens to the relationships beyond this termination and this beginning is not known generally. [...]