EurAdopt Conference Utrecht, 1 & 2 juni 2016.
The Relevance of Adoption.
Improving life for children who cannot live with their family
Georganiseerd door de Nederlandse EurAdoptleden, waarbij ik als landenvertegenwoordiger van Nederland in EurAdopt een van de organisatoren was.
Omdat we specifiek de stem van de geadopteerden wilden laten horen, heb ik voor deze conferentie op verzoek van EurAdopt het onderzoek naar Tevredenheid van volwassen geadopteerden gedaan en tijdens de conferentie gepresenteerd.
This conference was about adoption and described the contemporary environment in which intercountry adoption is used as an option for children who cannot live with their biological family. The purpose of this conference was to discuss adoption together with the adoption triad.
Therefore adoptees, adoptive parents and birthparents had an important active role in the program. The presentations from both practice and academic research, combined with the interactive sessions aimed to challenge and enrich the perspectives of the participants of the Conference.
In the Netherlands many adoptees are adult, empowered, and united in organizations. Therefore, next to presentations by scientists and experts from the adoption practice, the voice of the adoptees was present in a number of ways during the conference. Adoptees talked about the effects of adoption, in four panel sessions they discussed outcomes together with a birth parent and an adoptive parent. Over sixty posters with phrases and illustrations made by adoptees and adoptive parents on adoption decorated the conference room. Chairwoman Annette Goltstein regularly engaged the conference participants in discussions and both critical and content adoptees shared their points of view. The presence of birthmothers was highly appreciated by the conference participants.
Specifically for this conference a vast internet survey was conducted among adult adoptees in the Netherlands, in which they were asked how satisfied they are about adoption and how they are doing. The survey has been completed by over 1,200 adoptees in the age of 18 - 55 years, in this way giving an ‘inside view’ into the relevance of adoption. The majority of the adoptees turned out to be satisfied with their life and their adoption – with even higher average satisfaction than the average Dutch population. This does not mean that there are no issues bothering the adoptees. This was seen for 6-10% of the adoptees and was reflected in the discussions. The survey showed that for the satisfaction of life feelings around relinquishment and adoption, discrimination issues and a good feeling about the adoptive family were the most important factors.