Title: Being
Adopted: The Effect on Identity Development within Adolescence
Topic: Self, Other, Ethnicity, Rites of Passage,
Identity Signals
Sources:
·
-Erikson, E.H. (1970). "Identity
crisis" in perspective. In E.H. Erikson, Life history and the historical moment. New York: Norton, 1975.
·
“The Importance of Your Child’s Cultural and
Racial Heritage”. The Adoptive Parent Preparation Manual
·
"Adoption and the Stages of
Development-Table of Contents." Child Welfare
Information Gateway. Web. <http://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/f_stages/index.cfm>.
·
McGinnis, Hollee, Susan Livingston Smith, Scott
D. Ryan, and Jeanne
A. Howard
. :
Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption. New York NY: Evan
B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and W.K. Kellogg Foundation, 2009 November.
Print.
·
Nickman, Steven L., Alvin A. Rosenfeld, Paul
Fine, James C. MacIntyre, Daniel J. Pilowsky, Ruth-Arlene Howe, Andre Derdeyn,
Mayu Bonoan Gonzales, Linda Forsythe, and Sally A. Sveda. "Children in Adoptive
Families: Overview and Update." Journal of the American Academy of
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 44.10 (2005): 987-95. Print.
·
Sofia Poetsch, Personal Interview
·
Johnson, Dana E. "Adoption and the Effect
on Children's Development." Early Human Development 39.54 (2002).
Print.
·
"The Effects of Adoption on Children."
LIVESTRONG.COM. Web. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/80940-effects-adoption-children/>.
·
"The Adopted Child | American Academy of
Child & Adolescent Psychiatry."
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Web. <http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/the_adopted_child>.
·
Miller, Margi, and Nancy Ward. With Eyes Wide
Open: A Workbook for Parents Adopting International Children. St. Paul, MN:
Children's Home
Society of Minnesota, 2001. Print.
Relation:
Robbins claims that “individuals strive to arrive at some
identity/destination” (133), and thinks that the importance of self truly
relies on social identities. What happens when someone struggles to find their
identity and their sense of who they are in the world? Many adopted children
must face this issue as the develop through adolescence as they learn about
themselves. I looked at multiple different articles and personal experience
from my younger sister to see the difficulties faced as adopted children
discover their identity.
Description:
The period of Adolescence is thought to span from around nine
years old to 25 years old due to brain development. It is the most stressful
and difficult time for a child no matter what situation. Adolescence is meant
to be a time to develop and secure one’s identity, however, finding out about
becoming adopted can add even more stress factors to a child as they develop
through this period. During the beginning of adolescence and the center back to
egocentrism the adopted child will start to question and develop their
identity. Personal identity deals with questions that arise about us. Many of
these questions are familiar ones: What am I? Where did I come from? What will
happen to me in the future? What am I expected to do? We often speak of
personal identity as what defines a person. Identity in this sense consists
roughly of what makes you unique as an individual and different from others.
Having to deal with the idea of losing ones birthparents and trying to discover
an identity would be overwhelming for anyone. But for a person who concretely
knows his or her ancestry and biological history many questions of identity are
answered but for a child who has been adopted the issue of identity is very
complex and for internationally adopted children it is even more confusing. One
consequence is the adopted child can start to define their identity by what
they know they are not in compared to their family. This viewpoint has been
studied by Harold D. Grotevant and is called “reactive identity disorder”. It is difficult because the child feels
as if they have no one to look up to and discover their identity since role
models are very important during adolescence.
The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute did studies in 2009
focusing on promoting healthy identity formation in adoption. This is the
largest case study to date that looks at identity development and its
consequences seen in adults who were adopted as children. Four hundred and
eighty six adopted adults completed an online survey while many others shared
their personal stories. The main findings of the study are laid out in these
points: adoption is an increasingly significant aspect of identity as the child
ages; discrimination because of adoption is a reality; transracial adoptees
consider or want to be white or the same race as adoptive parents; and positive
identity development is most facilitated by getting to experience travel to
their native country or have role models of their same race/ethnicity. The
Adoption Institute also gives some recommendations to help the process of
connection with both cultures because they are a part of both. Although some
adoptions try to match children with parents who have similar physical
features, temperament, and intelligence to “attempt to make the adoption
invisible” the adoption institute does not think this method is the correct way
to deal with the problem.
I became first interested in this topic as my family prepared
to adopt my younger sister, Sofia, when I was about ten years old. The adoption
agency our family worked with required that each of us learned and studied
about what the child would go through and how to help transition and answer
their questions as they matured. We were each given a giant binder with a
booklet called “With Eyes Wide Open” that was meant to be a workbook for parents adopting
international children, full of articles by different professionals and
personal interviews with adopted children to help with the process and
integration of my sister into our family. My parents also constantly went to
different seminars so they were further informed and could better prepared to
help my sister. The binder also had tons of information on my sister’s native
country, Guatemala. When she wanted to learn about where she came from she had
accessible information that was specific to her. My family now has added photos
from our visits with her and Guatemala so she can look at them whenever she
wants. This topic of development and difficulties faced touches many people:
the Adoption Institute’s 1997 Public Opinion Benchmark survey found that 58% of
Americans know someone who has been adopted, has adopted a child or has
relinquished a child for adoption and that number has only grown.
Commentary/Analysis:
The adolescent
child’s primary task is to establish a secure sense of self identity which can
lead them in their adult life. Identity is composed of many aspects like race,
life experiences, gender, and even biogenetic information and this information
is processed to help a person develop their identity. The issues of identity
development in children adopted from different countries and cultures are even
more difficult. On top of that the loss of both parents as a result of adoption
allows for feelings of abandonment and loss throughout adolescence that can
even carry on to adult life. Adopted
youth must understand and learn that for some reason their birth parent
couldn’t care for them at the time, this adds even more conflict when
developing their identity. The feeling of loss is just one of the difficulties
adopted children face, in addition to that the development of identity during
adolescence is a very complex and difficult path for the adopted child that can
greatly affect their future life. Adolescence is one of the most difficult
struggles for any child, adopted or not, growing up.
