Heterosexual and sexual minority adoptive parents’ help-seeking and service satisfaction of pediatricians and mental health providers

Abstract

The aim of our study was to examine the associations between heterosexual and sexual minority adoptive parents’ adoption-related help-seeking and their service satisfaction with pediatricians and mental health providers. We examined associations with (a) satisfaction with pediatricians and (b) understanding of adoption by a mental health provider among adoptive parents who sought advice for adoption-related issues using data drawn from the Modern Adoptive Families study ( N = 1,419). Logistic regressions were used to examine associations with service-seeking and satisfaction with professionals’ adoption advice. About half of the sample adopted a child with either special needs at placement (55%) and/or preplacement adversity (74%), which were significantly associated with seeking adoption-related advice. Consulting pediatricians about adoption was common (78%), and 83% of those parents reported being satisfied with adoption-related advice provided by their pediatrician. About half (51%) of the parents sought mental health services, but only 41% of those parents reported having access to an adoption-competent mental health provider and 50% of those parents felt their mental health provider understood adoption. Parent sexual orientation, higher income, older child age, and having a child with special needs were positively associated with satisfaction with adoption-related advice provided by the pediatrician and having a mental health provider who understood adoption. Adopting a child with special needs at placement and an older child were positive associations of seeking adoption-related help, while parent demographics, including higher household income, were positively associated with satisfaction. Results suggest an inclusive family-centered approach to care is important.

Post-Adoption Help-Seeking in Portugal: A Comprehensive Study on Parental Difficulties and Help-Seeking Behaviors and Perceptions

“…In line with this, despite only 41% of adoptive parents have sought adoption-specialized help, these parents perceived the professional support received as more useful than those who requested non-specialized help. This result is in accordance with research showing that adoptive parents greatly value adoption-competent professionals and services [ 15 , 26 , 38 ]. However, our results also demonstrated that the more adoptive parents who sought for adoption-specialized help reported difficulties related to the quality of the parent–child relationship, the less satisfied they were with the help received.…”

“…However, an interesting and possibly related result was that the more the adoptive parents reported parental difficulties related to children’s problems, the less they were satisfied with the support received. We could argue that adoptive parents are likely to access generalist rather adoption-specialized services to deal with their children’ problems in our country, which are not always perceived by parents as competent in adoption-related issues [ 15 ]. This explanation is likely to be supported by our findings, as adoption-specialized help-seekers in our sample faced greater difficulties related to their own well-being and adoption-specific issues, but similar difficulties related to their children’s behavioral difficulties, when compared to adoptive parents who sought non-specialized professional support.…”

“…However, adoptive parents have reduced contact with adoption services over time [ 8 ], making access to post-adoption support dependent on parents’ help-seeking [ 10 , 11 , 12 ], and little is known about the specific features of help-seeking among this population [ 13 ]. Adoptive parents’ reasons for seeking or not seeking professional help [ 14 ], their satisfaction with [ 15 ] and acceptability of specific types of interventions [ 16 ] are some of the understudied topics, which can greatly differ from biological parents [ 4 ]. Comparison studies between adoptive and biological families have been highly recommended [ 3 , 16 ], as they would allow a deeper understanding of the influence of the unique post-adoption features on parental difficulties and help-seeking above and beyond what is expected for normative/biological parenthood.…”

“…A number of studies showed high adoptive parents’ satisfaction with post-adoption services [ 7 , 10 , 31 ]; others highlighted that some adoptive parents perceived post-adoption services as unhelpful [ 8 , 39 ], often report unmet needs of support [ 9 , 25 , 26 ], and had concerns with the lack of competent adoption professionals and services [ 26 , 39 ]. For instance, adoptive parents discuss the extent to which many professionals had difficulties in understanding the unique experiences, needs and challenges of adoptive families [ 15 , 26 ] and, therefore, in offering helpful and sensitive advice [ 38 ]. In line with this, it is plausible to assume that adoptive parents are less likely to be satisfied with the support they received when compared with biological ones [ 4 ], namely if this was a non-specialized support.…”