Towards a psychological understanding of problems encountered in early extrafamilial adoption

• Main Author: Davids, Jennifer
• Other Authors: Couve, Cyril
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: University of Cape Town 2016
• Subjects: Clinical Psychology
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/16855

Bibliography: pages 278-293. === Early extrafamilial adoption is a valuable form of child care which may fulfil both the needs of infertile couples and of unwanted children. The aim of this thesis is to provide a review, which appears to be lacking in this under-researched area, of the issues pertinent to the psychological understanding of adoption. The detailed discussion of a clinical case study serves to illustrate some of the psychological issues already documented and to open further avenues of investigation. An extensive review of the literature available has revealed that (a) a vast amount of material has been written from a social casework viewpoint, with a predominantly pragmatic emphasis; and (b) in comparison, relatively little psychologically- oriented research has been undertaken. Drawing on recent work on the psychological processes accompanying pregnancy, a tentative comparison between the experiences of the biological mother and the adoptive mother in the period culminating in the acquisition of a baby has been outlined. A detailed clinical case study of nine month long psychotherapy with a young adopted child has illustrated some of the psychological issues raised in the extensive review and has revealed remarkable similarities with observations made independently in other parts of the world. Although observations were based only on a single case study, a number of hypotheses have been generated from the richness of the descriptive material. It is argued that adoption should be located in a developmental framework. It seems important that the adoptive parents have had the opportunity to work through issues associated with infertility and sexuality. Furthermore, with respect to revelation, besides difficulties experienced by the adoptive parents, it is hypothesized that the ego precocity of the adoptee may prompt the parent/s to tell at an early age and/or give detailed information for which the child is not developmentally ready. It is proposed, on the basis of the case material and the literature survey, that adoption themes (for parent and child) become intertwined with-developmental concerns. A provisional set of guidelines which may prove useful to the psychotherapist is outlined in the final chapter, together with recommendations for future research, both empirical and theoretical, with clinical and non-clinical populations.