Preview
Creation Date
10-25-2023
Description
Family life educators (FLE) provide essential support for many complex family forms. Supporting the complexity unique to adoptive families requires specific understanding of the adoption kinship network (AKN: birth family, the adopted person, and adoptive family network). As adoptive and birth families negotiate contact over the life cycle, the possible relationships within the AKN are numerous. Using data from the Minnesota-Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP: Grotevant, McRoy, Wrobel, & Ayers-Lopez, 2013), a 30 year longitudinal study of contact in adoptive families, cross-network contact in the AKN at three separate stages of development will be described. Cross-network contact is defined as contact between any member of the adoptive family and any member of the birth family. Case examples describing profiles of cross-network contact, including changes in birth family and adoptive family participation, across different stages of adopted person development will be presented. Lastly, implications for FLEs are discussed.