1. Objectifs

Intentions :
Proposer une définition de la parentalité en intégrant et discernant les éléments issus d’une définition biologique et sociale, pour ainsi pouvoir y inclure la totalité des parents, géniteurs ou non.

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
4 Entrevues avec des couples de parents adoptifs

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

« Parenthood is more than the mere fact of having children. What makes us parents does not explain parenthood. The word itself is ambiguous because it covers both biological and social parenthood and it blurs the distinctions that we can make between these two notions. It takes more than biology to create parents, however society’s obsession with fertility lends more credence to parenthood achieved through biology than parenthood achieved socially, as, for example, in the case of adoptive parenthood. This leaves adoptive parents in a precarious position because there is no cultural script for their route to parenthood. Although they are admired for their generosity in taking in other people’s children, they are always qualified as adoptive parents. Adoptive parents must deal with the same questions as biological parents as well as face issues that biological parents will never face. Adoptive parents work very hard at being good parents, yet because our definition of parenthood seems to rest on biology, their work is never deemed adequate. Interviews with four couples who adopted their children seem to confirm this as they spend a lot of time trying to convince others as well as themselves that they are real parents. This proves that they are not considered real parents because biological parents need to provide these justifications. I argue that we need to come up with a definition of parenthood that does not rely on biology in order to create a cultural script for all parents no matter how they came to parenthood. » (p. v)