Keywords: adoption, filiation, family, origins, international adoption, child protection

Research Framework: This article looks at informal intra-family adoptions in French Polynesia and in Kiriwina, Papua New Guinea.

Objectives : It provides a cross-cultural analysis framework of the different forms of children’s circulation.

Methodology: The observations and interviews analyzed are based on two ethnographic surveys. My analysis of the life trajectories of people involved in adoptions is connected to the literature on the circulation of children and recent work in the anthropology of kinship.

Results: Informal intra-family adoptions are characterized by the existence of a kinship relationship between birth parents and adoptive parents, and the absence of a legal framework. The term informal refers to the flexibility and versatility of the kinning process. This process has a material dimension, and is constructed through parental work, economic transactions and transmission practices. Its temporality, essential to its understanding, is not linear: adoptions can be undone and some biographical periods are conducive to undoing or forging adoptive ties. Relatedness also involves discourse, and in particular the adoption story, which produces intentionality and expresses affects.

Conclusion : In the absence of formalized filiation, informal adoptions are based on an accumulation of acts, material and symbolic, punctual and regular, performed by parents, other family members and the children themselves. These actions produce attachment.

Contribution : This article draws on a description of contemporary adoptive practices in two different Pacific societies to develop a transversal analytical proposal that contributes to the comparative study of the circulation of children as well as to the conceptualization of kinship.

Keywords: circulation of children, adoption, filiation, relatedness, kinning, Tahiti, Papua New Guinea, temporality, transmission

Research framework : The aspiration of sexual minorities to gain access to a kinship from which they were once excluded, the decline in the average age of first pregnancies and the multifactorial phenomenon of a decreasing number of adoptable children all point to the need to think differently about adoption, accepting that it needs not be exclusive of maintaining ties with the parents of origin.

Objectives : The aim of this paper is to identify what adjustments could be made to enable simple adoption to realize its full potential in contemporary society.

Methodology: The study was based primarily on an analysis of French legislation and jurisprudence, as well as theoretical insights, while also making allowance for comparative law (Canada, the United States and Cuba).

Results: It appears that, despite the obvious need for greater recognition of elective filiation in a context of disconnection between biology and kinship, the idea of recognizing genuine pluriparentage remains difficult for the French legislature to accept, and that simple adoption remains devalued as a secondary source of filiation.

Conclusions : To unleash the potential of simple adoption, it would suffice to make a few simple adjustments: equivalence of rights in terms of parental authority or inheritance taxation, use in the context of child protection and extension to all situations of multiple kinship, where it is in the child’s interest to have an additive parent recognized.

Contribution : This article shows that the persistent difficulty of the French legislator to draw the consequences of recent societal evolutions, that it has nevertheless accompanied, is essentially linked to the tenacity of the myth of begetting, and that major evolutions could be achieved without much effort, for the benefit of children.

Mots-clés: simple adoption, full adoption, parentage, paternity, maternity, assisted reproduction, parenthood, France

Research Framework: Children adopted from foster care may present significant behavioural and relational difficulties due to their experience of neglect/abuse in their family of origin, which will have a negative impact on their relational and behavioral functioning in their new family. As a result, the parents who care for them on a daily basis may develop secondary or filial trauma.

Objectives: This article presents the partial results of a qualitative study concerning the steps taken by adoptive parents to obtain help.

Methodology: Ten adoptive parents were questioned in semi-structured interviews about their motivation for becoming foster-to-adopt parents, the child’s arrival in their family, the difficulties experienced by the child, and their experience of secondary trauma. The interviews were transcribed in full and subjected to content analysis.

Results: After explaining the children’s problems, this article details the various services these parents have sought in relation with the important issues experienced in their family: front-line services, private sector services, social emergency services, the police and the Youth Protection Services. Finally, the place of self-help in the face of the significant suffering experienced by adoptive parents is detailed.

Conclusion: Although the experience of secondary and filial trauma does not concern all families who adopt from foster care, it is important to provide adequate support for those who do, in order to avoid the child’s placement or the parents’ disengagement.

Contribution: This article underlines the importance of uniform, long-term training for foster-to-adopt applicants, support for adoptive parents and training in the prevention of aggressive behaviour in their child.

Mots-clés: adoption, adoption from foster-care, adoptive parent, adoptive parenthood, post-adoption service, filial trauma, secondary trauma

Research Framework: Chile and Argentina are among the South American countries where the number of adoptees who are either searching for their origins or questioning them, and the various aspects of their personal identity has increased exponentially over the past decade.

Objectives : In order to deepen academic knowledge of (re)naming processes, the specific aim of this study is to explore the history that each participant has constructed around their first and last name (birth and adopted), as well as the meanings they give to naming processes and the operations they actively perform in this regard.

Methodology: The data presented in this article come from a subset of 13 participants in a multi-site qualitative study in Chile and Argentina of 75 national adoptees (legal and illegal). Their experiences were collected through qualitative interviews and analyzed along thematic analysis.

Results: The narratives show the unique perspectives that adoptees have on maintaining, changing or combining their names, decisions that can be seen as an exercise in affirmation and ongoing transformation of their sense of self and the relationships they establish with their past, present and future.

Conclusion : The question of name is at the heart of the identity-building process. It is essential to understand the identity-related operations that people actively, reflectively and creatively perform on their names.

Contribution : By analyzing the identity operations carried out by adoptees, our article contributes to the understanding of the identity work they carry out throughout their lives as a result of their dual filiation.

Mots-clés: adoption, origins, identity, name

Research Framework : In Quebec, a child conceived through a surrogate pregnancy has initially as parents the woman who gave birth to him and the man (or one of the men) who instigated the parental project. To establish filiation with the non-statutory parent, adoption by special consent has been the route used for many years.

Objectives : This article aims to identify the issues that the use of adoption by special consent as a modality of affiliation in the context of surrogacy can generate during pregnancy and at the time of delivery, but also in the organization of family life in the postnatal period.

Methodology: The data presented are drawn from two qualitative research studies that gathered the experiences of people directly involved in a surrogacy arrangement through individual interviews. Forty-seven participants (n = 47) were interviewed, including twelve heterosexual parents, seventeen gay fathers, and eighteen surrogates. Data were subjected to secondary analysis by thematization.

Results: The results are broken down into three moments that punctuate the surrogacy process: 1) the intended parents’ sense of filiation and the surrogates’ refusal of maternal status, expressed as soon as the parental project is formulated and reiterated during the pregnancy; 2) the designation of the legal mother at the time of delivery; and 3) the families’ experience of public institutions in the postnatal period.

Conclusions : The period of uncertainty leading up to adoption by special consent weakens the experience of the intended parents that we encountered, in addition to entailing risks for the surrogates and the children thus born in the event of conflicts or dissolution of the agreement.

Contribution : The use of adoption by special consent in the context of surrogacy has been studied mainly from a legal perspective, through the study of family law judgments. This study allowed us to understand the issues underlying this form of affiliation, which has been used for some time in Quebec in the absence of a legal framework for surrogacy.

Mots-clés: adoption, parental leave, matrimonial right, rights, family, filiation, surrogate motherhood, homoparentality, infertility, maternity, kinship

Research Framework: During the first wave of COVID-19, practices in French maternity hospitals were heterogeneous, and restrictions mainly concerned the presence of accompanying persons and the requirement to wear a mask.

Objectives : We analyzed the impacts of the pandemic on the organization of care in the MaNaO birthing center on the island of Reunion, as well as the experiences of midwives, women who gave birth and their families.

Methodology: In 2021 and 2022, as part of the MaterCovid-19 research project (ANR), we carried out a study involving participatory observation and semi-structured interviews (n=34) with midwives and women at the birthing center, called MaNaO, on the island of Reunion.

Results: Our results show that while the health crisis has reinforced the medicalization of birth center spaces, MaNaO has been described by women and midwives as a pandemic-proof place, or a “COVID-free bubble”. Thanks to the human and intimate nature of all the care provided, the philosophy and independent access to the facility, which guarantees that every woman is supported during her examinations and on the day of delivery, as well as the early return home that is characteristic of this facility, the birth center has succeeded in protecting women and their families from the psychological and sometimes dehumanizing shock of the health crisis.

Conclusions : This research highlights the fact that the current demands from women and their families are not just about de-medicalization, but also about preserving the family nature of childbirth. It also points to the absolute necessity of reinforcing women’s emotional security.

Contributions : At a time when birthing centers are being tested in France, the results of this research could contribute to the social and political debate.

Keywords: childbirth, maternity, midwives, COVID-19, health

Research framework: Young adults were the age group most affected by feelings of loneliness during the pandemic. To date, this phenomenon has mainly been approached by standardized mental health indicators: we argue that a sociological perspective can shed different light on these experiences.

Objectives: Using a life-course approach, this article aims to understand the different meanings associated with experiences of loneliness during the pandemic, and to identify the social conditions that led to their occurrence. We highlight the main sources of loneliness among young people, the multiple emotions associated with it, and the different strategies for coping with it.

Methodology: Our study is based on a comparative analysis of 48 life stories conducted in 2020 and 2021 with individuals aged 18 to 30, from various social backgrounds, in Montreal (16), Gaspé (16) and Toronto (16).

Results: All the stories are initially marked by the existence of a “shock of loneliness”, but they are strongly polarized into three main experiences: loneliness as an “abyss”, as a “struggle” or as a “resource”.

Conclusions: We cannot reduce the pandemic loneliness of young people to the suffering of isolation: in our study, young adults were affected by different types of loneliness – relational, but also existential and political – that are significant for their generation. We also show how precariousness tends to create a process of “cumulative loneliness”, and highlight the paradoxical role of social media on these different types of loneliness.

Contribution: This article offers a better understanding of the social and generational factors behind the sharp rise in youth loneliness during the pandemic. It provides a better understanding of the dynamics of social inequalities in these experiences.

Mots-clés: pandemic, young adult, youth, life course, mental health, attachment, emotion, social bond, social support, social integration

Research Framework: Immigration in contexts such as Canada and Quebec is likely to generate changes in masculine functions. Thus, immigrant fathers, depending on their origins and profiles, negotiate and present different facets of masculinity to adapt to the various realities of the host country.

Objectives: This article examines the impact of immigration on the masculinity and paternal identity of immigrant fathers of different origins in Quebec.

Methodology: We conducted a total of 39 interviews with immigrant fathers of sub-Saharan, North African, European, Asian and Latin American origin. An interview guide with open-ended questions enabled them to express themselves on their perception of fatherhood, their identity, their paternal engagement and their adaptation in a migratory context.

Results: Our findings indicate that fatherhood is an opportunity for these men to validate their masculinity. Furthermore, the role of provider represents an expression, valorization, and reinforcement of their masculinity. We also found that immigrant fathers’ perceptions of masculinity evolved and were redefined through paternal involvement, in order to overcome the difficulties of integration in the host country.

Conclusion: This article shows that, beyond the difficulties, immigration represents an opportunity for commitment and redefinition of fatherhood and masculinity for many immigrant men.

Contribution: The various observations arising from this study show the need to take masculinity into account in the care and development of programs for immigrant fathers. Finally, the article offers research possibilities to help understand better different types of fatherhood.

Mots-clés: masculinity, fatherhood, paternal identity, immigration

Research Framework : Parents can use at least two strategies to limit the detrimental effects of their child’s use of digital technology. Active mediation refers to sharing, discussing and exchanging opinions with the child on the influences of technology. Restrictive mediation involves setting rules around its usage, as well as technical measures, such as installing parental controls.

Objectives : The aim of this study is to examine some parent-specific (i.e., gender, education level, problematic social media use) and family specific (i.e., parental stress, number of siblings, shared responsibility for childcare, child age) determinants that may be associated with the use of these mediations.

Methodology: A sample of 112 parents completed surveys (75% women; M age = 33.42; SD = 0.51) whose child (M age = 6.97; SD = 3.89; range = 1 to 16 years old) uses a tablet or mobile phone. Two hierarchical linear regression models with forms of mediation as dependent variables were each tested.

Results: Active mediation is positively associated with problematic social media use, the number of siblings and shared responsibility for childcare, and negatively associated with parental stress. Restrictive mediation is not correlated to any of these variables.

Conclusions : Since restrictive mediation includes stricter technical measures, it may be associated with circumstantial occurrences, such as a parent’s fear in response to a specific incident.

Contribution : A better understanding of the factors and contexts influencing parental mediation behaviours enables us to offer a wider range of strategies adapted to each family’s unique situation. Parents can thus foster the development of safe behaviours their children, without causing unwanted negative effects from the use of digital technologies.

Mots-clés: digital technologies, parental skills, media education, child, family, media, connected screens, digital uses