Birth Mothers Now Birth Grandmothers: Intergenerational Relationships in Open Adoptions

Abstract

Despite growing trends in openness between birth and adoptive families, little is known about what happens when adopted children become parents and birth mothers become birth grandmothers. These new and unique relationships between birth mothers and their grandchildren were examined through intensive case study analyses of in-depth interviews with birth mothers who placed infants for adoption more than 25 years ago (N = 11). Findings revealed enjoyment in their role as grandmothers and emphasized the significant role the adult adoptee (parent) played in influencing communication with their grandchild and families’ incorporation of technology-mediated contact to overcome geographic barriers. Implications for practitioners, policy makers, and researchers are discussed.

Keywords:

• Adoption
• birth grandmothers
• birth mothers
• grandmothers
• open adoption

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the adoptive and birth family members who generously shared their experiences as part of the Minnesota-Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP). The authors give thanks to the members of the MTARP Research Team, especially Susan Ayers-Lopez and Ann Schwartz, for their work interviewing, transcribing, and coding data.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.