1) I am extremely interested in the reunions of adoptees
with their birth families and the relationships that exist after these reunions
between the adoptive family, adoptee, and the birth family. Being an adoptee, I
have always wondered whether it was ethical for me to want to contact my birth
family for fear of hurting the wonderful relationship I have with my adoptive
family. After this reunion, how would my birth family fit in with my family and
what would constitute a healthy balanced relationship between the two? I feel
that these are pressing questions for many adoptees and I want to seek out a
generic answer for those of us adoptees that have looked into this possibility
of reunion.
2) I think the ethical issues that are present in this topic
all concern the rights of the individuals involved. Do adoptees have the right
to search for their birth families? Do birth families have the right to
privacy? Do adoptive parents have the right to decline a relationship with
their child’s birth family? These are all very difficult questions to answer,
but they all have to do with the personal rights that each individual is
guaranteed. Who’s rights then are more powerful if all these parties’ right are
in contradiction? Does the prevailing right go to the adoptee? The birth
family? Or the adoptive family?
3) I am not sure where to go about finding sources for this
topic. I could contact my own social worker and see if she has governmental
documents concerning open adoptions and the implications that must be taken in
order for a reunion to take place. Also, I would be open to reading more
memoirs of reunions or blogs describing the processes that adoptees go through
in their reunions.
4) I am very interested in the topic of reunion; however, I
am not sure how likely I am to find enough information to write a research
paper on the topic. Also, I am not sure there are enough ethical issues present
here for me to make an ethical argument. On a scale of 1-10 I am sitting at a 6
on the likelihood I will use this topic as my final research topic.
5) Can anyone think of a topic close to this that could
produce more results or be easier to research?
Graded Reply #8
ReplyDeleteWhat a unique idea! I would love to hear about this topic. However, I was interested to read that you are looking for a ‘generic answer’ in how to go about adoptee reunions. I was just curious to see more what you mean by this, as I would imagine that each case is so unique and different that it would take longer than 10 pages, or whatever, to come to a general conclusion. I would love to hear from your social worker though. I wonder if he or she does not have sufficient enough resources for you. If not, I think that is an ethical question in of itself! After all, I would think that the social workers are there to provide adoptees with support in how to deal with their adoption process. As we have read in many different accounts, contemplating looking for birthparents and how that rubs against the rights of the birthparents/wish to respect adoptive parents is part of the self-identification process. I do not have a whole lot of suggestions for you; however, I do have a book from a Native American adoptee who talks about her reunion process in its entirety. Her birthmother wanted nothing to do with her, and she continually sought her and her family out regardless. Therefore, it does touch on many of the questions that you wish to address. Basically, (Trace DeMeyer is her name) she came to the conclusion that it is HER right as the vulnerable child that had no choice to know her birth family. Obviously, her birth mother felt otherwise, and there is even a couple of angry letters included in the book from her birth mother. Keep in mind that I will also be using the book, but I would be more than happy to loan it to you for a weekend/week or something.
-Beth G.