En riktig familj : Adoption, föräldraskap och barnets bästa 1917-1975
Sammanfattning: When a family comes into existence through adoption, the state has a crucial influence. Adoption therefore gives a unique opportunity to study a societal vision of the good family. That is the point of departure for “A Real Family”. The study spans the period from 1917, when the first Adoption Act was passed, to 1975, when international adoption was established. Three periods – the 1920s, the 1950s, and the 1970s – have been studied in detail. The investigation concerns the policy on adoption matters, handbooks for officials administering adoption cases, and the handling of adoption cases in Stockholm.Adoption has been studied as a historical, societal phenomenon, and the focus has been on the public regulation of family formation. Through the principle of “the child’s best interest”, the control of family formation has been distinct, but simultaneously indistinct, since the meaning of the concept has always been open to interpretation. Through an analysis of the meanings ascribed to “the child’s best interest”, it has been possible to reveal the norms for adoption. The idea has served as the key to adoption’s “rules for realness”, i. e. the often implicit criteria that define what “a real family” is.In the 1920s, what gave the adoptive family legitimacy was the will to assume responsibility for the child. Parents’ involvement and devotion distinguished a family. In the 1950s a real family was a normal family, a “typical” family in a normative sense. The adoptive family had to correspond to an ideal version of the biologically based family. The establishment of normality as a “rule for realness” depended on the reinterpretation of the meaning of adoption, which became clear with the introduction of full adoption in 1958. The adoptive family, which had previously been a supplementary family, became instead a replacement family, and social relations could fully take the place of biology as a basis for family ties. At the start of the 1970s a real family was an open and social family. It was supposed to be a platform for the child who was to acquire a place of its own in society. The “rules for realness” within adoption policy and practice, during the studied period, can thus be defined as devotion ? normality ? sociality.
Denna avhandling är EVENTUELLT nedladdningsbar som PDF. Kolla denna länk för att se om den går att ladda ner.