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The transition into adoptive parenthood: adoption as a process of continued unsafe uncertainty when family scripts collide

Tasker, Fiona and Wood, S. (2016) The transition into adoptive parenthood: adoption as a process of continued unsafe uncertainty when family scripts collide. Clinical Child Psychology & Psychiatry 21 (4), pp. 520-535. ISSN 1359-1045.

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Abstract

Our prospective study investigated couples’ expectations of adoptive parenthood and explored how these changed with their actual experience of parenthood. Six heterosexual couples were interviewed just before placement began and six months after the children had arrived. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse both sets of interview data. Expectations of adoptive parenthood mostly transformed smoothly into adoption experience for couples but challenges were experienced when family scripts collided and a continued feeling of unsafe uncertainty then prevailed within these newly formed family systems. Family script collision seemed a particular problem for couples adopting sibling pairs. To further professional practice in working with families over the transition to adoptive parenting we suggest that professionals keep in mind a framework that includes: Internal and external world influences on family members, Intergenerational issues, Family scripts, and the Structural challenges of adoption (IIFS).

Metadata

Item Type: Article
Keyword(s) / Subject(s): adoption, family systems, family scripts, siblings, transition to parenthood, unsafe uncertainty
School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Science > School of Psychological Sciences
Research Centres and Institutes: Children, Families and Social Issues, Institute for the Study of (Closed)
Depositing User: Fiona Tasker
Date Deposited: 04 Apr 2016 10:29
Last Modified: 27 Feb 2025 03:44
URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/14431

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