INFERTILITY RESOLUTION AS A FACTOR OF ADOPTION ADJUSTMENT

The study examines the role of prospective adoptive parents' infertility resolution in their future adoption adjustment. Infertility resolution is considered to be a result of going through a series of emotional reactions: denial, anger and offence, guilt, despair and depression, acceptance (resolution). The author argues that adoption readiness implies the infertility resolution: adjustment and accepting of infertility emotions, as well as considering adoption as an alternative way to parenthood, which is not able to replace birth of one's own child. The problem was investigated in a short-term longitudinal study. In pre-adoption stage 65 prospective adoptive parents participated in semi-structured interviews that assessed their emotional reaction to infertility. In post-adoption stage (2 years later) adoptive families with different levels of adoption adjustment were analyzed depending on patterns of adoptive parents' emotional reaction to infertility before adoption. The results showed that infertility resolution of prospective adoptive parents is a significant factor of successful adoption adjustment.