Making sense of adoption: integration and differentiation from the perspective of adopted children in middle childhood
Forty-three English adoptees aged five to thirteen were interviewed about belonging and understanding adoption. Almost all described closeness to their adoptive families, while half expressed complicated feelings about birth family, including loss or rejection. Over half reported uncomfortable questions or teasing from peers.
Limitations: Small exploratory sample placed before age four, mostly with birth-family contact; not representative of all adoption pathways or adult experiences. Publications from this programme may use overlapping participants or data.
- Research type
- Qualitative interview study
- Source reviewed
- Abstract
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Age group
- Children / Adolescents
Study context and review
Age group as recorded: Children; adolescents
Adoption context: Domestic adoption
Programme: Contact After Adoption Study
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: adoptee voice, adoption stigma, belonging, identity, peer relationships
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_b6d452bf08196208