Doctoral Degrees (Psychology)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Psychology) by Subject "Adoptive parents -- Legal status, laws, etc. -- Western Cape (South Africa)"

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    Adopting transracially in the Western Cape: understanding families’ experiences in context
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2023-03) Luyt, Jean; Swartz, Leslie; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Transracial adoption was legalised in South Africa in 1991 after legislation prohibiting it was removed, but it remains controversial. International research into transracial adoption includes outcomes studies, studies on identity development of transracial adoptees and parents’ efforts at ethnic-racial socialisation. Research into transracial adoption tends to focus on the transracially adopted children and adoptive mothers with experiences of other members of the family and the transracial adoptive family as a whole only starting to get attention recently. Relevance of international research may be limited because of significant contextual differences in South Africa. Limited research into transracial adoption in South Africa includes research into the attitudes towards transracial adoption and experiences of adoptive parents, particularly mothers, and adoptees. The research tends to be exploratory, uses varied theoretical paradigms and methodology, based on small sample sizes. The experience of transracial adoption is best understood in the context of family and no research into the tasks and challenges facing the transracial adoptive family exists in South Africa. This research on the experiences of transracial adoptive families in the Western Cape, was conducted via qualitative methodology, using a family life cycle model as a theoretical framework. Using this framework allowed me to describe and investigate the experiences, challenges and tasks facing transracial adoptive families without pathologising them. Twenty-six transracial adoptive families were recruited using convenience and snowball sampling. The sample included 31 adoptive parents, (25 woman and 6 men) and eight adoptees (five adopted girls, two adopted boys and one female adult adoptee). Data gathering was conducted by means of 12 semi-structured family interviews and six focus groups. Themes emerging from iterative thematic analysis were reported according to the life stage of the adoptive family. The challenges related to the pre-placement phase are related to making the decision to adopt and managing the adoption process. In South African transracial adoptive families, barriers to biological parenthood are not the only motivation to adopt, and a significant number of transracial adoptive families have both adopted and biological children. Significant challenges faced by prospective adoptive parents in the adoption process include the demanding nature and lack of uniformity of the adoption process, post-placement bureaucracy and significant ambivalence towards adoption social workers. Post-placement, the biological family and the adoptive family are permanently joined, even if the adoptive family wishes to deny this. Creating a transracial adoptive family identity and managing relationships with biological family are ongoing challenges for the transracial adoptive family in the post-placement phase. Different aspects of these ongoing tasks become salient at different stages of the life cycle, prompted by individual development, family development and changes in the external environment. Implications for adoption policy and practice and support offered to the transracial adoptive family are discussed. The limitations to the study include the limited number of men, lack of non-adopted siblings who participated and the sample being skewed towards families with young children. This limited the opportunity to investigate aspects related to all family members and later stages in the life cycle model.