U.S. Families' Adoption of Chinese Daughters: A Narrative Analysis of Family Themes in Children's Books

Abstract

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine the ways in which family formation processes were presented in international children's adoption books. Guided by Pinderhughes' (1996) adoptive family development model, we conducted a content analysis for the representation of two developmental phases (anticipation and accommodation). A total of 24 publicly accessible books (e.g., via libraries, websites, or bookstores) were coded independently by two researchers. The results indicated that adoptive developmental tasks were represented in the books. The books were transparent in the description of positively and negatively valenced events (e.g., adoptive children are withdrawn from new parents). Implications for practice and service provision and research are offered.

Representations of Psychological Sense of Community in Children’s Literature about Chinese-Born Adopted Girls

“…The researchers used a directional coding approach, in which they determine (before coding) that they are searching for specific themes, events, or processes (Fitzpatrick & Kostina-Ritchey, 2013). Directional coding fits with recommendations that qualitative researchers should make coding processes more explicit (e.g., Mays & Pope, 1995).…”

Family Development Theory 30 Years Later

“…More recently, FDT has been used to research a wide variety of family topics. Some of the more popular topics utilizing FDT over the past 30 years have been in the area of life course stages or events like adoption (Bejenaru & Roth, 2012;Fitzpatrick & Kostina-Ritchey, 2013), parenting (Anderson, 1988;Brotherson, 2007;Crawford & Fischer, 1993;Moore, 1989; Seiffge-Krenke & Pakalniskiene, 2011), marriage (Hall & Adams, 2011;Moen, Bradford, Lee, Harris, & Stewart, 2015;Storaasli & Markman, 1990;Willoughby, Hall, & Goff, 2015), grandparenting (Waldrop et al, 1999), retirement (O'Rand & Farkas, 2002), and death (Maxymiv & Blankemeyer, 2001). Topics such as health issues (Cavanagh, Compton, Tluczek, Brown, & Farrell, 2010;M.…”

“…More recently, FDT has been used to research a wide variety of family topics. Some of the more popular topics utilizing FDT over the past 30 years have been in the area of life course stages or events like adoption (Bejenaru & Roth, ; Fitzpatrick & Kostina‐Ritchey, ), parenting (Anderson, ; Brotherson, ; Crawford & Fischer, ; Moore, ; Seiffge‐Krenke & Pakalniskiene, ), marriage (Hall & Adams, ; Moen, Bradford, Lee, Harris, & Stewart, ; Storaasli & Markman, ; Willoughby, Hall, & Goff, ), grandparenting (Waldrop et al, ), retirement (O'Rand & Farkas, ), and death (Maxymiv & Blankemeyer, ). Topics such as health issues (Cavanagh, Compton, Tluczek, Brown, & Farrell, ; M. McCubbin, ), nursing (Flanagan, Holmes, & MacInnes, ), pets (Albert & Bulcroft, ), computer use (Watt & White, ), children's use of media (Davies & Gentile, ) and work, business, and family finance (Chaulk, Johnson, & Bulcroft, ; Minola, Brumana, Campopiano, Garrett, & Cassia, ; Shams & Björnberg, ; White, ) have also used FDT to guide their research.…”

Imaginarios situados: contribuciones del análisis audiovisual a la comprensión de la adopción

“…For more extensive information about family textbook literature, see Klein and Smith (1985), Fitzpatrick and Kostina-Ritchey (2013 to deserve less attention than other family-related events, due to an alleged lower social impact 8 (Stolley and Hall 1994;Hall and Stolley 1997;Fisher 2003). This would be a fine example of how audiovisual production may help to counterbalance those pessimistic and potentially damaging depictions of adoption previously highlighted by Bordo, by placing reality as a factual compensating source of information.…”

“…In this vein, several studies deal with the representation of parent-child relationships within the adoptive sphere. Although my focus here is on audiovisual and representational issues, the interest in identitarian and emotional features in children's books about adoption is remarkable (Ayres 2004;Fitzpatrick 2012), including family formation processes (Fitzpatrick and Kostina-Ritchey 2013) or even the correlation between long-term discourses on adoption and other social practices such as abortion (Hall and Stolley 1997). Furthermore, the specific conditions that international adoptees meet at school, as well as the role of teachers as professionals who must be aware of such differences, are also considered in some specific literature (Baker 2013).…”