Motivations to Adopt Transracially in South Africa

Abstract

Motivation to adopt transracially is under-researched in the South African context. This paper reports on qualitative psycho-social research, using the life stage model to investigate motivation to adopt in 26 transracially adoptive families, interviewed in focus groups and family interviews. Results indicate that the decision to adopt is complex, and influenced by opportunities and obstacles. Both parent- and child-centered motivations, as well as preferential adoption are endorsed by parents. Preferential adoption and child-centered motivation in the absence of fertility problems create a novel family form, which include both biological and adopted children, for almost half the families interviewed.

Keywords:

• Motivations to adopt
• South Africa
• transracial adoption
• psycho-social studies
• Free Association Narrative Interview (FANI) method

Declaration of conflicting interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Ethical approval has been obtained for all protocols from the Stellenbosch University Humanities Ethics Review Board for project (Reference number: 9227: title: Understanding the experiences of families composed by means of transracial adoption in a South African context. The study meets national and international guidelines for research on humans.

Additional information

Funding

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.