Perceived Sense of Closeness and Belonging for Relative Versus Non-Relative Adoptive Families

Background/Purpose: When children in foster care cannot return to their original home, the child welfare system strives to ensure family permanence through adoption and guardianship. Over the past decades, our knowledge on relative foster care has increased significantly, documenting its benefits and challenges. However, current literature on relative adoptive homes is very scarce. This study attempted to investigate whether relative and non-relative adoptive homes are similar or different, particularly in the quality of relationship perceived by adoptees and adoptive parents. The study also explored the diversity within relative adoptive families, distinguishing adoptive parents of grandparents versus other relatives.

Methods: The study used data collected from the NSCAW Adoption Study where 383 adoptees and/or adoptive parents were surveyed. This study used items on the perceived levels of closeness adoptees and adoptive parents felt toward each other and perceived levels of adoptee belonging to their adoptive family at the time of the survey. The types of relationship were examined in two ways: 1) relatives vs. non-relatives, and 2) grandparents, other relatives, vs. non-relatives. Separate logistic regression analyses were performed for the samples of adoptees and adoptive parents to examine the effect of relationship types on the sense of closeness and belonging, while controlling for post-adoption instability, and adoptees’ age at adoption, gender and race.

Results: When young adults adopted by grandparents and other relatives were coalesced into one group, relative and non-relative adoptees were not significantly different in their sense of closeness and belonging (p > 0.05). However, when the two groups were included as separate groups, young adults adopted by grandparents were over three times more likely to have a sense of closeness and belonging than those adopted by other relatives and non-relatives (p < 0.05). Somewhat different results were observed for adoptive parents: relatives (grandparents and other relatives combined) were over two times more likely to report a sense of closeness and belonging than non-relatives (OR = 2.04 and 3.13, respectively, p < 0.05). When the analytic model had grandparents and other relatives as distinct groups, the only significant difference observed between grandparents and non-relatives was that grandparents reported higher levels of closeness (p < 0.05).

Conclusion/Implications: Prior studies suggest that the quality of relationship is a significant factor in promoting the stability of adoptive placements. In the study, the majority of adoptees and adoptive parents reported high levels of closeness and belonging. However, the perceived levels of closeness and belonging were different depending on the types of relationships. It was also observed that the findings changed when the diversity of relative groups were considered, illustrating nuanced and complex relationships within relative adoptive families. Furthermore, the perceptions were somewhat inconsistent between adoptees and adoptive parents. Future studies should further explore how these similarities and differences between relative and non-relative groups and between adoptees and adoptive parents impact post-adoption stability and family well-being so that adequate support and interventions can be designed and provided.