A Study of Adoptive Families In Jammu

Abstract

Adoption is a legal process by which a set of parents become parents of a child not naturally born to them . The claiming of an alien child as one’s own and facing the family and community’s attitude towards adoption are important aspects of adoptive experiences which need a deep study.  With this aim present research was conducted to study pschyo-social aspects of adoption among adoptive families in Jammu.The sample of the study comprised of 12 families taken from urban Jammu. Snowball sampling technique was used to select the sample. Observation , and interview guide were used for data collection.The results of the study revealed that major reason for adoption was childlessness. Childlessness had not caused friction in relationship between husband and wife in majority of the cases .However, after adoption , with parental needs being satisfied, there was greater marital harmony in the relationship , even among the couples who had certain problems. Age of the child at the time of adoption was  found to be an important variable affecting the adjustment of the child .Lower the age, the better was found to be the adjustment in the family.50% of the children knew that they had been adopted and this does not influenced their relationship with their parents , expect in case of one family . But all the parents found the experience of adoption very positive and satisfactory .

Key words: Adoption, childlessness, emotional maturity