Eriksson, Pia
(Helsingin yliopisto, 2016)
In Finnish society, family creation is usually considered a private matter, whereas child protection is considered a public matter. In the adoption process these two matters intertwine, and prospective adoptive parents face the tensions which arise from this when becoming pre-adoption clients in social services. The power dynamics between prospective adoptive parents as clients and the professionals in this process have rarely been of interest, despite power being an integral to social work. Furthermore, the emotions of encounters between clients and professionals in social work settings have largely been overlooked in research. Though professionals are important facilitators in making crucial decisions about the creation of families in the inter-county adoption process, the client-professional relationship has only been studied to a minor extent in this institutional setting.
This study investigates the context of statutory pre- adoption services of pre-adoption counselling (assessment and preparation) and mediation in inter-country adoption in Finland as a receiving country. The study conveys user perspectives of prospective adoptive parents and enhances the understanding of the institutional setting of pre- adoption services by utilizing the concepts of emotion, power, social interaction and service satisfaction. The study examines how prospective adoptive parents experience and account for statutory pre-adoption services from their client position, and how emotions and power intertwine in social interaction in the pre-adoption context. Finally, it contextualizes the experiences of prospective adoptive parents within broader social work and intercountry adoption discussions.
This study applies a broad methodological approach, using survey derived data (N=1451) and narrative interviews (N=19). The overarching theoretical perspectives are those of narrativity, a horizontal view of knowledge production, and a reflexive methodology. The survey data was analysed using logistic regression and content analysis, whereas the interviews were analysed by way of thematic narrative analysis.
The study showed that 81.7% of adoptive parents were satisfied with the pre-adoption counselling they had received. This service satisfaction was best explained on the interpersonal level in the relationship between client and professional. However, consequent analysis of the institutional setting indicated that stressful emotions are common among prospective adoptive parents. The findings suggest that an experience of fear was connected with the risk of the loss of a wanted child through either rejection in the assessment procedure or a termination of the adoption process. A gatekeeping function of the professionals is seen to be present throughout the whole pre-adoption process, and a power asymmetry was perceived by the prospective adoptive parent through different controlling practices. In combination with a sense of loss of control in their vulnerable client position and a dependency on the system, emotions of anger and fear were also experienced. The study showed that prospective adoptive parents use different strategies in their social interactions with professionals to navigate this institutional setting. However, stressful emotions and the resulting strategic actions can pose a challenge to establishing a trustful relationship with professionals, which is important in terms of service delivery. Prospective adoptive parents balance their anxiety and hope in the process through their own emotional engagement, but the study also identified the professionals as key actors in diminishing stressful emotions in the setting. Two different but converging discourses were identified in the interview data, as an emotional discourse of wanting a child , and a cognitive discourse of providing a home . These reflected a difference in primary aims between the client and professional, and were further found to be influenced by the knowledge orders of adult-driven Western reproduction, and child-centered child protection.
The implications of the study suggest an acknowledgment of dependency, vulnerability and emotion among the prospective adoptive parents, as well as a need for client participation in creating a common understanding and a more dialogical set of practices. On a global level and as a social work practice, adoption services need to be brought closer to a child protection aim.