Becoming "Point and Click" Parents: A Case Study of Communication and Online Adoption

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the discourse of an adoption online Web site using thematic content analysis. Using the Web site adoptiononline.com as a case study, we discuss potential implications of this new medium on both the construction of family and the adoption process itself. Several themes emerged during our analysis that help family communication scholars better understand online communication in the process of adoption: suburban family myths, online as utopia, and child as cyber commodity. These themes suggest a shift in focus from the child to the birth and adoptive parents in the adoption process, as well as what it means to be family. Implications of our analysis for future directions for inquiry for family communication researchers are discussed.