Contact with birth family in intercountry adoptions: Comparing families headed by sexual minority and heterosexual parents. (March 2017) - Brodzinsky, David
Abstract: Contact between adoptive families and birth families in the context of intercountry adoption, as well as adoption by sexual minorities (e.g., lesbians and gay men), represent understudied topics. In the current study, we examine the extent and type of contact with birth family in intercountry adoptive families headed by heterosexual and sexual minority parents. Data were drawn from the Modern Adoptive Families project, a nationwide, non-random survey of adoptive parents' beliefs and experiences that was conducted from 2012 to 2013. The current sample consisted of 479 families headed by heterosexual parents (H) and 38 families headed by sexual minority women (SM) whose oldest adopted child was younger than 18 years of age and who had been placed from another country. Although no family type difference was found in contact with birth family prior to or at the time of placement (H = 9.6%; SM = 13.2%), sexual minority respondents reported a higher level of contact with one or more members of their children"s birth families following adoptive placement than did heterosexual respondents (SM = 28.9%; H = 14.4%), as well as currently (SM = 21.1%; H 9.8%). They also reported more contact with their children"s birth mothers than did heterosexual parents, although no family type differences were found for contact with other birth family members. Policy and practice implications are discussed. Highlights: Sexual minority women have more contact with birth family than heterosexuals in intercountry adoptions. The most common means of contact with birth family was through intermediaries. Contact with birth family was more common in families adopting from Africa than from other regions of the world.