Abstract
Study Objective
To understand the perspectives of people who placed children for adoption during adolescence
Design
We conducted qualitative interviews with adults who placed children for adoption during
adolescence. We recruited participants through social media and two adoption-related
organizations. We audio-recorded and transcribed interviews. Using thematic analysis,
2 investigators coded the transcripts and identified themes.
Setting
Telephone interviews
Participants
Adults ages 18-35 years old who placed children for adoption before they were 20 years
old
Interventions
Semi-structured telephone interviews
Main Outcome Measures
Qualitative data
Results
We conducted interviews with 18 individuals (median age of 32 years; range 21-35 years).
The median age at pregnancy was 18 years (range 13-19 years). Seventeen participants
identified as female and one as nonbinary. Themes included the following: (1) Negative
experiences with counseling included limited empowerment to make choices about pregnancy
or adoption options; (2) negative experiences with counseling included limited information
about practical or financial support for pregnant adolescents; (3) negative experiences
with the health care system included insensitivity or lack of awareness of the adoption
plan at delivery; (4) positive experiences with counseling included comprehensive
unbiased options counseling and adoption counseling emphasizing birth parent choice
in openness and family placement; (5) positive experiences included longitudinal emotional
support during pregnancy, particularly in ways that normalized adoption placement;
and (6) participants desired therapy and/or psychological support following adoption
placement.
Conclusions
Individuals who chose adoption after adolescent pregnancy described positive and negative
encounters with health care and adoption professionals that could serve as targets
to improve the overall care experience for this population.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 17, 2022
Accepted:
August 11,
2022
Received in revised form:
August 6,
2022
Received:
March 17,
2022
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: none.
The work has not been previously published elsewhere. This work has been accepted as an abstract to the 2022 Pediatric Academic Societies Conference. It is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.
Acknowledgments: This work was supported by the Society of Family Planning, Denver, CO [2020 Emerging Scholars Grant to Laura Kirkpatrick]. The funding source had no role in study design; collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; writing of the report; and the decision to submit for publication.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
