Exploring the Narrative Process: An Analysis of the Adoption Stories Mothers Tell Their Internationally Adopted Children

Abstract

Abstract Grounded in the interpretive paradigm, the present study examined adoption stories told in families formed through international adoption. The purpose of the study was to investigate the process through which mothers tell their internationally adopted children the adoption story and the functions adoption stories serve for members of these families. Telephone interviews with eleven adoptive mothers illuminate the interactive and dynamic nature of adoption stories as well as myriad functions the storytelling process serves for both the adopted children and parents, namely, offering children positive reinforcement, building familiarity with adoption-related talk, conveying a complete history, and attempting to help children avoid fantasy. The findings provide important implications for researchers and adoptive parents by contributing to the Family Adoption Communication model and highlighting the unifying and educational nature of stories and the storytelling process. Notes An earlier version of this article was presented at the Top Four Papers in Interpersonal Communication Panel at the April 2006 conference of the Eastern Communication Association in Philadelphia, PA. 1This research stemmed from a larger project designed to investigate the communicative experiences of internationally adoptive families. Additional findings from this project were presented at the November, 2005 convention of the National Communication Association, Boston. 2A research call was placed on a Web forum sponsored by Holt International. In addition, a number of participants offered to post the research call on adoption-related Listservs to which they subscribed. 3Participants' names have been replaced with pseudonyms to maintain their confidentiality.