Birth parents' experiences of post-adoption contact
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Birth parents’ experiences of contact with children adopted in the last 10 years: making and living out arrangements
IRAS ID
252758
Contact name
Mandi MacDonald
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queens' University Belfast
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
n/a, n/a
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 8 months, 1 days
Research summary
Summary of Research
In Northern Ireland, children may be adopted from the public care system as part of a ‘permanence’ plan; a Court may, in certain circumstances, dispense with parents’ consent to the adoption. Legal parenthood is transferred from ‘birth parents’ to ‘adoptive parents’. Children may have lived at home, developed relationships, be older or part of a sibling group. Practice has moved towards adoption being ‘open’ in a number of senses; adoptive parents are encouraged to ensure children know about their adoptive status and links are increasingly maintained between children and their birth families. Maintaining those links may be through direct (meeting up face-to-face) or indirect contact (letters, cards and photos) known as ‘post-adoption’ contact.
Northern Ireland is perceived as having a more open approach to post-adoption contact than elsewhere in the UK, with more direct contact arrangements. This qualitative research aims understand the formulation, purpose and reality of post-adoption contact arrangements in Northern Ireland from the perspective of birth parents. To do so, the study plans to undertake semi-structured interviews with birth parents about their experience and understanding of post-adoption contact. An aspect of the process leading to post-adoption contact takes place at Court and as such the experiences of legal professionals, acting as representatives of the parties, will be incorporated to enrich the data about the formulation of arrangements.
The experiences will then be used to carry out a rights based analysis of the legal framework, practice and procedures around post-adoption contact. It will not contribute to the knowledge on appropriate levels or types of contact. It is hoped this research will provide insight which will assist practice and procedure as well as identifying any service needs and issues with services for birth parents. The researcher is funded by the Department for the Economy.Summary of Results
This qualitative research project aimed to understand the formulation, purpose and reality of post-adoption contact in Northern Ireland from the less explored perspective of birth parents. Following ethical approval from ORECNI, semi-structured interviews were undertaken with five birth parents about their experiences and understanding of postadoption contact. Northern Ireland is perceived as having a more open approach to postadoption contact for children adopted from care than elsewhere in the UK, with more direct contact. An aspect of the process leading to contact takes place in court and as such the experiences of 12 lawyers has been incorporated to enrich the data on the formulation of arrangements.
Honneth’s theory of recognition was used as a lens to interpret the data; it argues that the self is formulated through intersubjective experiences in three spheres – intimate relations, rights and individual’s strengths recognised by the community. A particular emphasis on human rights from the second domain of recognition was used given the focus on the court process for making post-adoption contact arrangements. Using this theoretical framework to interpret the data, it is argued that some birth parents experience a ‘retained parental identity’. Recognition and misrecognition of that identity through contact practices, participation in decision-making and the impact of decision-making is explored with particular use of the European Convention on Human Rights. The insight from using this theoretical framework to interpret the under-represented experiences of birth parents and lawyers allows recommendations to be made for more sensitive and understanding practices.REC name
HSC REC B
REC reference
19/NI/0018
Date of REC Opinion
13 Mar 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion