Making sense of siblings: connections and severances in post‐adoption contact

Abstract

Abstract Sociological and anthropological studies of kinship have examined adoption as a test case for understanding the complex combinations of biological and social ties that constitute kinship. Adoption sets up an ‘adoption kinship network’ between birth family and adoptive family members. Contact after adoption poses challenges for adoptive families and birth relatives in negotiating changing kinship ties. This paper examines the experience of post‐adoption direct sibling contact from the perspectives of adoptive parents and birth relatives, including adult siblings. Interviews were carried out with 51 adoptive parents, four long‐term foster carers and with 39 birth relatives. The analysis revealed the complex multiple family networks that exist between adoptive families and the families of the adopted child's birth siblings. These networks connect some siblings, but sever connections with others. Where direct contact occurs, infrequent meetings mean that regular, repeated interactions normally considered to constitute ‘family practices’ are absent, in some cases creating barriers to feelings of kinship. Implications for adoption and contact support services are discussed.