What are you looking forward to as the new Rudd Family Foundation Chair in Psychology?
I’m looking forward to learning more about the adoption system in the USA. I’ve been researching adoption in England over the last three decades. England and the USA are similar in that adoption is promoted as a route out of the foster care system. However, there are differences between the two countries; for example, in the USA children are adopted over a wider age range, there is a higher proportion of children adopted by their foster carers, and many children come from minoritized backgrounds. I’m interested to learn more about how adoption is experienced in relation to these differences, for example how does it feel for a teenager to be adopted?
Another difference is that in the US historically there have been large numbers of children adopted internationally. This pathway to adoption peaked about 20 years ago and so the experiences of these individuals as adults is another topic of interest. Although adoption is often described as having “lifelong” effects, there are many research gaps around the experiences of adoptees in adulthood. I’m looking forward to collaborating with Hollee McGinnis, who will be joining me as Rudd program visiting professor and who has a wealth of expertise around the topic of intercountry adoption.
I’m also excited to be based in the clinical division in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences. Therapeutic intervention for adoptive families is much needed in practice and is an important topic for research. I am looking forward to advancing the goals of the Rudd program, which extend beyond primary research, encompassing engagement and impact activities as well as nurturing the next generation of adoption scholars. I’ve already had the wonderful opportunity to meet many emerging and established adoption scholars from across the US at the Summer Adoption Research Institute, which the Rudd program held in Boston in early August this year. I’m delighted that I will be working with my two new PhD students, Ana and Jaylynn, who start this fall on the clinical program.
Can you highlight a recent research project of yours?
I recently carried out a research project in the UK that focused on the experiences of adopted people when they become parents, and adoptive parents when they become grandparents. We used a life history interview methodology to understand how our participants viewed their whole life, including being adopted (or being an adoptive parent) and becoming a parent (or grandparent). Becoming a parent or grandparent is a major event in anyone’s life, but there are additional layers of difference, challenge, and opportunity for adoptees and adoptive parents.
Some men and women reported that becoming a parent ignited or heightened feelings about their adoption. For example for mothers and fathers who had experienced abuse and neglect in their childhood, they often felt anxious about whether they would be a good enough parent and ‘break the cycle’. For others becoming a parent triggered identity exploration, or a reevaluation of relationships with birth family members or adoptive family members. Becoming a parent could be particularly stressful because of these additional layers, but at the same time many people talked about parenting as a “turning point” in their life- a new focus, motivation and identity that inspired them to address personal and interpersonal challenges that they may have been experiencing.
The interviews with grandparents were also fascinating. Most of our adoptive parents/grandparents had adopted children from the foster care system. Their sons and daughters had often had challenges, particularly during adolescence and into early adulthood. These encompassed emotional and attachment difficulties, mental health problems, identity issues and struggles in school. Particularly where the adopted person became a mom or dad at a young age, they were still trying to address these challenges alongside parenting their child.
Adoptive parents by large were really keen to support their children and grandchildren, and we saw several examples of three generation households where adoptees and their adoptive parents lived together to bring up the children. For many adoptive parents this was a joy to be so involved with their grandchildren, but they also felt that their input as parents was very extended compared to their peers whose children were not adopted. For some adoptive parents the arrival of their grandchild was their first experience of helping care for a newborn baby. As well as being a source of delight, a reawakening of feelings of loss in relation to their own infertility was an issue for some grandparents. I am looking forward to continuing to work with and publish from this rich and interesting qualitative data which can build our understanding of adoptive family life beyond the childhood of the adoptee.
What is something you would like your colleagues to know about you?
I love nature and spending time outside. I’m keen to learn about the birds and other wildlife of Massachusetts and the local beauty spots, particularly where there are dog friendly trails where I can take my two shelties, Gethin and Barry, for walks. They love all the forests around here and are pretty much in a permanent state of hysteria about the sheer quantity of squirrels they encounter on a day-to-day basis.