OPENNESS IN ADOPTIVE FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

The purpose of this study, therefore, is to test hypotheses concerning the consequence of variations in "openness" in adoption (communication and contact among adoption triad members) for birthmothers who placed infants for adoption, for adoptive families and their adopted children, and for the development of relationships among adoption triad members. Data from a new sample of 40 birthmothers and their corresponding adoptive families (identified through Catholic Social Services of Green Bay) will be added to an existing data set that includes over 100 families. Adoptive families and birthmothers will be visited once in their respective homes; birthmothers will be given the option of being interviewed by telephone. Measures include several questionnaires, in-depth interviews with each person, and a joint interview with the adoptive parents. Five studies are proposed that address competence and successful adaptation in adoptive family relationships. Two of them replicate and extend the PI's work in progress concerning degree of openness and outcomes for adopted children and adoptive parents. Studies 3-5 pose new questions concerning the consequences associated with active choice in degree of openness, the negotiation of changes in degree of openness over time, and links between the adoptive couple's marital relationship and the family's relationship with their child's birthmother.