IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/cysrev/v185y2026ics0190740926001945.html

Instability in adoptive families: perspectives of young adult adoptees and adoptive parents

Author

Listed:
  • Rolock, Nancy
  • Ringeisen, Heather
  • White, Kevin R.
  • McGinnis, Hollee
  • Domanico, Rose

Abstract

While adoption is often conceptualized as a permanent solution for children in foster care, it does not uniformly result in family stability or a sense of belonging within the adoptive family. Drawing on data from the NSCAW Adoption Study of 383 adoptive families, this study employed descriptive analyses and logistic regression to examine the prevalence and correlates of both formal (foster care reentry) and informal (e.g., homelessness or running away, events not captured in foster care administrative data systems) post adoption instability, using reports from young adult adoptees and adoptive parents of young adults. Of 383 respondents, 32 (8%) experienced formal instability and another 93 (24%) reported informal instability; a cumulative 125 (33%) experienced any form of instability. Despite these disruptions, a substantial proportion of respondents reporting instability—47% of young adults and 79% of adoptive parents—also reported a strong sense of belonging. These findings highlight the complexity of adoptive family experiences and underscore the importance of continued research in this area and service development to support long-term adoptive family functioning and well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Rolock, Nancy & Ringeisen, Heather & White, Kevin R. & McGinnis, Hollee & Domanico, Rose, 2026. "Instability in adoptive families: perspectives of young adult adoptees and adoptive parents," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:185:y:2026:i:c:s0190740926001945
    DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2026.108941
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740926001945
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.childyouth.2026.108941?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:cysrev:v:185:y:2026:i:c:s0190740926001945. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.