Adoptive parents' worries and concerns about their adolescent adopted children

This study forms part of a major longitudinal research project collaboration between the Anna Freud Centre, Coram and Great Ormond Street Hospital, which set out to explore adopted children's and adoptive parents' outcomes and experiences from middle childhood through to adolescence. In this paper, 17 adoptive mothers of late adopted children, currently in early adolescence (aged 12 to 15 years), were interviewed. The focus of the study draws upon their worries and fears regarding their children during adolescence and as they approach adulthood. The Parent Development Interviews (PDI) were analysed using thematic analysis and generated five overarching themes: Vulnerability, Violence, Derailing opportunities, Autonomy and Anxieties about the birth family. This qualitative exploration provides strong evidence for how these parents reflected upon very concrete challenges and anxieties about their child's journey, including both their current context and anticipated outcomes. The overwhelming majority of research to date on this population examines negative outcomes quantitatively; this study adds an important qualitative layer of the parents' own perspectives. This study draws upon the experiences of adoptive parents, all of whom were mothers, of late-adopted children, currently in early adolescence (aged 12 to 15 years). The study focused on their worries and fears regarding their children during adolescence and as they approach adulthood. Seventeen adoptive parents were interviewed using the Parent Development Interview (PDI) and the data were analysed using thematic analysis and generated five overarching themes: Vulnerability, Violence, Derailing opportunities, Autonomy and Anxieties about the birth family. This study provides strong evidence for how these parents identified and reflected upon very real challenges and anxieties about their child's journey including both their current lives and anticipated futures.