The constitution of parentality in late adoption

Parenting; parent-filial bond; late adoption; Winnicott.

A late adoption process involves the peculiar needs of each individual and representations of their psychic histories, which directly reflect on the relationship to be established. The situations of rupture of bonds, rejections, negligence and violence experienced by the child significantly influence the development of the parent-child relationship. The constitution of the mother/father figure is also affected by these unhealed wounds of the children, as well as by the losses, sufferings and narcissistic failures of the adopters themselves. Thus, this study aims to analyze and understand the experience of adoptive parents in relation to the constitution of their parenting in the late adoption of children. This is a qualitative research developed through case studies. Seven families who adopted children over 2 years old and/or adolescents participated. Adoptive parents answered a sociodemographic questionnaire, a Semi-structured Interview and participated in the Family Drawing with Story (DF-E) procedure. Data analysis is based on Minayo's content analysis methodology and data interpretation is based on Winnicott's psychoanalytic theoretical framework. Considering the content exposed in this work until the present stage, it was possible to observe that parenting in late adoption is still a topic that has not been addressed much. Analyzing this reality, it is important to focus on the data collected in order to analyze the construction of bonds between parents and children in late adoption, exploring ways to improve the bond and also identifying interventions that can help the parent-child adaptation during adoption process.