‘Who am I? Where do I fit in? What do I want to be?’ These are common questions we associate with adolescent development. For young people who have left care through adoption, these questions about identity and self have added layers of nuance and complexity that may not be fully appreciated by peers, extended family or adults in the school workforce. These extra layers, and their potential implications for educational experience, are explored in this blog post and discussed in greater detail in our study (Brown & Shelton, 2023).

Our study considers the potential of applying a ‘narrative adoptive identity’ perspective (Grotevant & von Korff, 2011) to answer questions about how adopted young people experience school as an ‘adopted’ person; that is, how does their lived experience as an adopted member of a school community impact on how they engage with their school, schoolwork and social network? We theorise that by taking this approach to understanding adoptees’ unique challenges, opportunities for better educational experience may be enhanced.

‘Our study shows a dearth of academic research into adoption and education, and that the voice of adoptees is strikingly absent.’

Our study shows a dearth of academic research into adoption and education, and that the voice of adoptees is strikingly absent. The irony of not being able to include the voice of the very adoptees we were writing about was not lost on us. Fortunately, I was contacted by an adoptee who had read our paper. This adopted young person, Rosie (pseudonym) offered unsolicited, but most warmly welcomed, feedback on the article. [For context, Rosie was taken into care at four years old (with her siblings) and found an adoptive family at age six (with her siblings). She is now 26 and living independently]. With some trepidation – because, with all due respect to peer reviewers, the response from adopted people is a critical acid test – I read her feedback. Rosie has kindly agreed for her comments to be used here:

‘I read this paper and cried. It’s extremely difficult to live normally and adapt quickly after adoption, which feels expected, and being academically smart like me and pretty well behaved, I just felt invisible. For the first time, when I read this paper, I felt seen.

‘I worked very hard to fit in at school, as I felt I must be perfect to have a proper family (this was self-inflicted). School was an area I felt I could prove [the adoption placement] was successful. I excelled at school, but socially I was the same. Academically, I think part of it was being terrified of being abandoned again, so yes, there may have been a natural aptitude, but that was further fuelled by fear.

‘[I] like science and logic and understanding WHY I am who I am, and the paper helped me understand why, as I have never met another adopted person like me. I know I’m lucky being in my position, but I have always struggled with being looked at as “fine” because I got A’s [GCSE and A-level; Rosie’s academic CV includes a 2:1 BA (Hons) and an MA]; finally, people can see that it’s not necessarily true!’

The ‘it’, of course, that Rosie refers to in the final sentence is that good academic attainment is not a proxy for wellbeing. Academically, Rosie is an outlier because an attainment gap persists in the UK and internationally for adoptees – a phenomenon we highlight and explore further in our study. Despite her academic success, Rosie’s adolescence wasn’t all plain sailing and challenges in resolving her adoptive identity remain. We had several exchanges with Rosie about other challenges adopted young people face in education, several of which are included in our study. For example, the impact of microaggressions from peers and staff alike; opportunities for open, sensitive communication about adoption; and constructing a consistent and coherent adoption narrative – all while simultaneously attending to academic demands.

I hope the acid test was passed. We are hugely grateful to Rosie for her feedback. Our interaction has provided direction and purpose for future explorations in this space; but, most importantly, it has served to remind our academic and research identities of the centrality of voice.

This blog post is based on the article ‘Coherent lives: Making sense of adoptees’ experiences in education through narrative identity’ by Andrew Brown and Katherine Shelton, published in the British Educational Research Journal.

References

Brown, A. & Shelton, K. (2023). Coherent lives: Making sense of adoptees’ experiences in education through narrative identity. British Educational Research Journal. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3918

Grotevant, H. D., & Von Korff, L. (2011). Adoptive identity. In S. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 585–601). Springer.