Openness versus secrecy in adoptive parenthood

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Shirley B. Geissinger (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Hyman Rodman

Abstract: In recent years there has been much debate about providing adult adoptees access to information from their original birth certificates and to other background information once considered to be confidential. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate adoptive parents' attitudes about this debate. More specifically, three purposes of the study were (a) to determine how well a proposed set of independent variables explained the variability in adoptive parents' attitudes toward openness of background information about adoptees (b) to provide descriptive information about adoptive parents and their attitudes about the open birth record issue and (c) to analyze important relationships identified in the research. The 131 adoptive parents who participated in the study were selected from three North Carolina adoption agencies and one Minnesota agency. These parents had adopted infants 2 years of age or less between the years 1960 and 1980. A 15-page questionnaire was sent to each of the participants. Eighty-six percent of the 151 parents who initially agreed to participate in the study returned completed questionnaires to the researcher.

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 1984
Subjects
Foster parents $x Attitudes
Adoptees $v Identification
Parent and child

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