Adoption Quarterly | 2019
Beyond the Childhood Years: Openness in Adoptive Kinship Networks
Abstract
This special issue of Adoption Quarterly highlights recent longitudinal findings from the Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP), which began in the 1980s and has followed 169 birth mothers and 190 adoptive families (190 mothers, 190 fathers, 171 children, now adults) over four waves of data collection (30 years postplacement) to identify the effects of adoption over time for all parties involved. The original sample was recruited from 35 private adoption agencies in 23 different states across the United States. The lead authors (Grotevant & McRoy) of this special issue have published the initial findings in two books (Openness in Adoption: New Practices, New Issues [1988] and Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections [1998]), which highlighted the early findings related to outcomes for birth mothers, adopted children, and adoptive families involved in MTARP. Subsequently, the project has published its empirical findings in more than 50 articles in refereed journals as well as numerous book chapters and pieces for broader audiences. This special issue features four new articles that focus on MTARP findings from the most recent waves of data collection. They focus on birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons as well as the research process and use both qualitative and quantitative approaches. These articles examine (1) predictors of adoptive mothers’ and fathers’ psychological distress while their children are adolescents; (2) emerging adult adoptees and their quest for information about their birth parents; (3) intergenerational relationships in open adoptions from the perspective of birth mothers, now birth grandmothers; and (4) ethical considerations in navigating confidentiality and privacy when conducting research with multiple parties in the adoption kinship network across time. Brief descriptions of these articles are provided below.