The Donaldson Adoption Institute | Untangling the Web II
Birth Parent use of the Internet to Maintain Connections While birth parents’ Internet use to gather information and facilitate adoptive placements is limited in this sample, its use increases after adoption (often many years later). The survey broke this contact down to separately measure connections with the adoptive family and the child. This allowed for the span of adoption, since the children of some birth parents who responded are now adults. Other adoptees are still young, so contact may not be occurring due to the child’s age. Distinctions between contact with the adoptive parents and the child were also made to better understand connections that may be formed or have already been formed between the birth parents and the children, possibly without the knowledge of the adoptive families. This is most concerning if the child is still a minor.!
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Almost half (47%) of birth parents who responded used the Internet to maintain a connection to the adoptive family, and 42 percent used it to maintain a connection with their children. Birth parents connect online with adoptive families and children mostly by Facebook and email. A few others noted that they communicate with their children via Instagram, and previously through MySpace. The graph below displays the type of contact birth parents have with adoptive families and with their children. Contact between birth parents and adoptive families is most often to share pictures and updates, followed by making arrangements to visit, communicating about family history, or having a child’s questions answered.!
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Use of Internet & Social Media to Maintain Connections
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! 100
80
60
40
20
0
Skype/Online video
Personal website/blog
Adoptive family (n=90) Adopted person (n=75)
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! !33
Mediated site