Weaving a Family Narrative

Abstract

This chapter addresses how adoptive parents think about nature versus nurture, and whether and how these ideas change across their children’s life course. It explores how parents talk about the complex issue of similarities and differences between themselves and their adopted children—both those that may be immediately visible (e.g., skin color, hair), even early on in parenting, and those that are not as apparent until later on (e.g., abilities and interests). It considers whether and how adoptive parents invoke birth parents to help children to understand, make sense of, accept, and/or experience pride in aspects of themselves that may not be mirrored in their adoptive parents. Furthermore, the chapter explores how parents anticipate, make sense of, and address challenges in the domains of mental health and physical health in the context of varying levels of contact with and knowledge of birth family.