Date

4-26-2024

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Counselor Education and Supervision (PhD)

Chair

Lisa Sosin

Keywords

adoptive parents, trauma, distress, narrative therapy, support group

Disciplines

Counseling | Psychology

Abstract

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of distress in parents who have adopted internationally. The aim was also to discover what this lived experience is like through the perception of both objective and subjective reality, providing understanding and meaning from the perception and experience of adopting and then parenting children who have experienced significant trauma. An additional goal of this study was to evaluate the experience of sharing their adoption story within a narrative therapy support group as a way to alleviate some of their distress. A focus on the background of adoption and the current understanding of the bioecological model of human development provides a greater representation of the systems involved and interactions within an adoptive family to clarify and highlight needs to be addressed by the counseling field. Through group and individual data collection, the findings included analysis of lived experiences of the process of adoption, parent factors, child factors, and social factors. The implications point to the need for increased access to adoption-competent providers and the need for counselor educators to include adoption-informed training for future counselors.

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