“To Meet Her, that Changed Everything”: Adult Adoptees’ Discursive Construction of the Meaning of “Parent” following Birth Parent Contact

Abstract

This dissertation examined the competing discourses that emerged as adult adoptees constructed the meaning of the term "parent" following contact with a birth parent. As a type of nontraditional family, adoptees have "dual membership" (Colaner, Halliwell, & Guignon, 2014) in both their adoptive and birth families. When making contact with a birth parent, adoptees may have to renegotiate the meaning of the term "parent" to include the birth parent. Relational Dialectics Theory (Baxter, 2011; Baxter & Montgomery, 1996) was used because it is an interpretive theory that allows researchers to study contradictory feelings-or competing discourses-that emerge in nontraditional families. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 adult adoptees who had made contact with a birth parent. Contrapuntal analysis (Baxter, 2011) uncovered two primary discourses that emerge as participants constructed a definition of "parent" following contact with their birth parent. The first discourse, discourse of parent as a specific person (DPSP), emerged when participants felt that "parent" referred exclusively to their adoptive parents; these participants did not change their definition of "parent" when they made contact with their birth parent. The second discourse, discourse of parent as a label (DPL), emerged when participants defined "parent" as a flexible role that could be filled by multiple people. These participants felt that their definition of "parent" changed only after making contact with their birth parent, and they included their birth parent in their definition of "parent." These discourses demonstrated interplay through negating, countering, and entertaining. The results of this dissertation add to the body of literature on adoptive family communication and RDT, and have implications for adoption practitioners. Three primary limitations should be considered: the use of a sample recruited from an adoption forum, the use of a sample that is not representative of the adoptee population, and three assumptions of birth family contact that were made prior to data collection. Despite these limitations, the results offer potential avenues of research for adoptive family communication researchers. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This is the part of the dissertation where I recognize the many wonderful individuals who helped me in my journey through this program. There will never be enough space, nor the right words, for me to fully acknowledge everything that these people have done for me, but this is a start. To my parents, Lynette and Dan, thank you for your unwavering support and for never failing to be proud of me, even when you weren't sure exactly what it was that I was doing. You instilled in me a work ethic and determination that got me to this point (and also a stubborn streak that has gotten me in trouble occasionally). To my sister, Kayla, my very first and best friend, thank you for being an endless source of entertainment whenever I needed a pick-me-up. Tante Angela, thank you for providing support in every sense of the w...