| Abstract [eng] |
Adoption is a process during which a child’s mutual personal, property rights and obligations with his or her parents and relatives are abolished and mutual personal, property rights and obligations are created with the adoptive parents and their relatives. Social assistance for adoptive parents and adopted children throughout the adoption process is essential to ensure a smooth and successful adoption process. Social services must be provided for the family intending to adopt, preparing the child to be adopted and organizing services after the announcement of the fact of adoption. The aim of the research is to reveal the need for social assistance in the adoption process based on the experiences of adoptive parents, in the context of specialist insights. The objectives of the research: to highlight the aspects of adoption (legal, scientific, psychological, social); to reveal the system of services provided by social workers to adoptive parents in Lithuania; to reveal the opinions of adoptive parents and social workers about the importance of social assistance in the adoption process. The methods of the research: scientific literature, documents analysis. In the qualitative research used the semi-structured interview method and content analysis. The sample of the study consisted of 8 adoptive parents and 8 persons certified by the State Child Rights Protection and Adoption Service who trains in GIMK programme. Results of the research. Based on the adoptive parents’ experiences and specialists’ insights revealed the process of social assistance adoption. Have been identified the main motives for the child adoption: the desire to experience the feeling of motherhood and fatherhood, to give meaning to one’s life, to aid the child (ren). The main reasons for the decision to adopt rather than foster was the severance of contact with the biological parents and the fact that the foster care did not give adoptive parents and children the same sense of security as the adoption institute. It was found that adoptive parents face various challenges in assisting during adoption process: collecting and submitting documents, waiting too long for a child, attending GIMK training. The aim of the training is not only to help the adopters to overcome the challenges, but also to provide the necessary information, strengthen them emotionally and psychologically, provide them with knowledge and skills on how to behave in various life situations, because the reality does not always correspond to the training material. GIMK training also has drawbacks: the long time between GIMK training and acquaintance with the child, lack of information about the child's waiting time, due to the pandemic, the training took place at a distance. Supportive services of social workers for adoptive parents after GIMK training are needed, most of the informants kept in touch with the social worker after GIMK training but did not participate in the ongoing training or only by invitation. Conclusion. To improve current adoption procedure, which no longer corresponds to the current realities, it is appropriate to shorten the adoption time, improve communication between institutions, perform a deeper analysis of adoptive motivation, to provide adopters with as complete information as possible about the proposal to adopt a child, to update the GIMK program, to prepare a child for adoption, encouraging adoptive parents to adopt older children. Methodological approach. The adoption phenomenon with social assistance analyzed based on theories of existentialism, humanism, and social constructivism. |
