Full Description
This title was first published in 2001. A systematic study of non-relative adoption in Hong Kong. It examines the changing profile of non-relative adoption between 1987 and 1993, from the author's analysis of 486 case files. Characteristics of the adoptive parents, adopted children and their birth parents are presented in descriptive statistics. Three predictors of adoption stresses are identified. Adjustment in adoption and threat to parental entitlement were positively related to adoption stress; parental education was negatively related to it. Apart from being more stressful, Chinese adopters were found to be significantly different from non-Chinese for having a lower level of acknowledgement of difference. They are more worrisome over the relationship with birth parents, are less ready to reveal adoption, have better adoptive parent-child relationship, and possess higher levels of personal qualities. The findings of the study suggest that a post-legal adoption service is urgently needed.
Contents
1: Introduction; 2: Stresses and Issues in Parenthood; 3: Adoption in the Family and Child Welfare Context; 4: Issues in Adoptive Parenthood and Conceptual Framework; 5: Methodology; 6: Ethnographic Insights and Hypotheses for Testing; 7: Profiles of Adoptive Parents, Adoptive Children and Birth Parents; 8: Demographic Data of Respondent Adoptive Families; 9: Traditional Adoption: Stresses and Patterns of Coping in Descriptive Statistics; 10: Nontraditional Adoption: Stresses and Patterns of Coping in Descriptive Statistics; 11: Hypotheses Testing and Scale Construction; 12: Discussion and Recommendations
