Adoption in India: Policies and Experiences

From the Jacket:

This book is a pioneering study on child adoption in India. Challenging some of the prevaiting theories on adoptive parenting through empirical data, it examines the issues that impinge on the development of adopted children in India. Importantly, this is the first book to give space to the voices of children.

The book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the macro-level issues of child adoption and discusses

• historical and global perspectives concerning adoption;
• theoretical paradigms, problems of research design and evaluation of research outcomes in adoption studies; and
• the Indian socio-political and socio-cultural contexts and contemporary adoption practices.

The second section provides a micro-level analysis of individual families and highlights

• the issues that come up while researching adoption in the Indian context; and
• experiences of parents and children, which have been collated to facilitate an understanding of the phenomenon of adoption at various stages of the child's development.

A distinguishing feature of this book is that it effectively combines both macro and micro issues with qualitative and quantitative methodologies to give a comprehensive construal of adoption. The life-cycle approach (which helps to map the continuities and transformations in the behaviors of adopted children), ethnographic studies of adoptive families and the author's personal story as an adoptive parent have been combined to provide the reader with an empathetic understanding of the adoptive parent and child. As a result, this book will be widely welcomed by parents of adopted children, policy-makers, counselors, adoption agencies and those working on the right of children. It will be of equal interest to students and scholars of child development, psychology and social work.

About the Author:

Vinita Bhargava, Ph.D., is a Reader and presently Head of the Department of Child Development at Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi.

CONTENTS

List of Tables		9
Foreword by S. Anandalakshmy		11
Prologue		13
Acknowledgements		19
Section I Adoption Policies and Macro Concerns
1.	Introduction	23
2.	Theoretical Paradigms and Research Findings	34
3.	Adoption and the Indian Socio-political Context	43
4.	Socio-cultural Dimensions of Adoption in India	59
Section II Micro Issues: Experiences of Parents and Children
5.	Researching Adoption: The Cultural Reality	75
6.	Alternative Parenting	98
7.	Construction of the Self in an Adopted Child	154
8.	Family Interactions and Self-evaluations	185
Epilogue		205
Appendices		216
Glossary		271
References		274
About the Author		284

Sample Pages