Motivations in the Transition to Adoptive Single Parenthood

Abstract

This work aimed to investigate the motivations in the transition to adoptive single parenthood. Nine women and three men between the ages of 38 and 61 from the middle socioeconomic strata of the metropolitan region of Rio de Janeiro and three cities in the south-southeast of Brazil were interviewed. The content analysis method was used in its categorical aspect. To achieve the objectives of this study, two categories were analyzed, using psychoanalytic and systemic family theories as a theoretical framework: in addition to infertility and motivations for the profile. The results showed that single-parent adoption was the means found to fulfill the desire to have children in the absence of a partner with whom to share parenting. Identifications with the adopter's individual history gained intensity and, together with the desire to transmit and care, motivated the adoption of children with neglected profiles. Identifications involving feelings of rejection and fantasies of repairing a symbolic debt were observed, whose reports demonstrated a work of reflection and awareness. It was concluded that identifications between neglected profiles, such as those of adopters and those of sheltered children, can constitute motivations for single-parent adoption, emphasizing the relevance of awareness-raising work, favoring adoption.