"Family is About Who Loves You." Exploring the Adoption Journey With Photos and Stories

Abstract

Adoption has complex implications for individuals and families, involving questions about the unknown (Dexter Brown & Reavey, 2008), a sense of trauma or loss (Lambert, 2020), or seeking one’s identity (Tan & Jordan-Arthur, 2012). Few studies have used images to research the adoption phenomenon. This qualitative study used a photovoice approach to explore experiences and perspectives of people touched by adoption using photos and narratives. Through a Photo + Story online survey, 37 participants, including adoptees and parents, siblings, and grandparents of adopted children, uploaded an image of what adoption meant to them, along with a brief written narrative and demographic information. Seventeen of the participants additionally took part in one of four focus groups where they shared their photos, elaborated on their stories, and engaged in dialogue about common experiences. Photos and narratives underwent systematic visuo-textual analysis (Brown & Collins, 2021), subsequently integrated with a thematic analysis of the focus group transcripts. In total, 74 codes emerged across all data. Synthesis of the codes resulted in three main themes: 1) Identity (e.g., adopted vs. biological, race/ethnicity, belonging); 2) Journey (e.g., waiting, first encounter, questioning/searching, secrets); and 3) Making Sense (e.g., gratitude, whole/complete, acceptance). Participants’ perspectives varied based on adoption status (e.g., adoptee vs. adoptive parent). Overall, the rich integration of images, stories, and dialogue revealed ways adoptees and their families reconcile the unknown as well as the diverse and dynamic ways we construct and understand both individual and family identities.