Kinship and Belonging in "Open Adoption": How Do Children Make Sense of Their Family Connections Through Visual Representations?

The study's objective was to examine how 25 children in "open adoption" placements: 12 children (5-11 years old) and 13 adolescents (12-18 years old) represented and discussed their family connections in different family types, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual-parented families. Children were interviewed and completed two visual depictions of their family relationships: (1) the Kinetic Family Drawing [KFD], and (2) the Apple Tree Family [ATF]. Interview data were quantified to consider four axes of family depiction: (1) Number, (2) Inclusion, (3) Order, and (4) Closeness to family members. Children included significantly fewer family members on the KFD than on the ATF. All children included adoptive parents on both measures while 17% included birth parents on the KFD and 47% on the ATF. Children tended to first include adoptive family members on the KFD and the ATF and positioned themselves closer to their adoptive family than to their birth parents on both. No significant differences between family types (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual vs. Heterosexual Parent/s) were found. The KFD captures the quality of family relationships whereas the ATF encourages depiction of a wide array of family connections. Our findings point to similar good parent-child relationships across lesbian, gay, and heterosexual parented adoptive families.