The emotional impact of becoming a sibling though adoption: a collective case study

Abstract

Blended family structures, constituted by consanguineous and adoptive parenting, are not rare and require attention from researchers in the field of Psychology. Coming from a collective case study in which have participated three mothers and their consanguineous children, that were an only child, who became siblings through adoption, it was aimed to verify the emotional impact of adoption on the consanguineous children in these arrangements. It was made use of a semi-structured interview with the mothers and the Design-Themed Story Procedure (DE-T) with the children, on the themes: “Draw what a child feels with the arrival of an already grown sibling” and “Draw your family”. The content analysis was sustained on the theoretical and methodological framework of psychoanalysis and the DE-T production units were understood through the material’s free inspection. It was observed the ambivalence of feelings and thoughts of the consanguineous siblings, like a notorious feeling of loss of attention and jealousy tied to the supply of affection, protection and partnership towards the siblings through adoption. It has stood out the importance of preparation and follow-up of the already existing children in the family pre and post adoption in order to observe the binding process between the siblings.

Keywords: Adoption; Fraternal relationships; Psychoanalysis.