Names in adoption law and policy: representations of family, rights and identities
Researchers used critical discourse analysis to examine how English adoption law and policy discuss names. They identified greater emphasis on shared family surnames than children’s first-name identity rights, interpreting omissions and unclear wording as linked to particular representations of family.
Limitations: This is analysis of documentary language, not a survey of adoptees or a statement of current legal entitlements. The interpretation should be distinguished from the legal texts themselves. Only the publisher-deposited abstract was reviewed; regional coverage and additional methods are not inferred where unstated. Related programme publications may use overlapping participants; these are separate publications, not independent replications.
- Research type
- Critical discourse analysis
- Source reviewed
- Abstract
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Age group
- Mixed
Study context and review
Age group as recorded: mixed
Adoption context: Domestic adoption / adoption from care
Programme: Names and naming in adoption research
Institutional context: No relationship identified in the material checked
No adoption-sector organisational relationship identified from metadata reviewed. Funding and conflicts were not comprehensively audited; this is not confirmation of institutional independence.
Bibliographic screening. Bibliographic relationships are not a bias or safety rating.
Topics: adoption system, identity, names, records, research methodology
Review scope: Source checked: Abstract. This does not imply full-text or independent human verification.
Country as recorded: England
- Funding
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Commissioner
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Funder role
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Declared conflicts
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Recruitment
- Not yet checked for this entry
- Adoptee involvement
- Not yet checked for this entry
Entry: study_43f34ab69b8764ca