Building transnational families: Adoptive parents' perceptions of the international adoption experience

The practice of international adoption is a relatively new and still expanding method of family formation. Globally, it involves more than one hundred countries and the movement of hundreds of thousands of children across international boundaries. In the United States alone the number of children adopted internationally now exceeds more than 20,000 annually. This study explores how newly adopting parents perceive the international adoption process. Data for this study was collected through the use of face-to-face interviews with parents who had adopted internationally. It provides detailed information about the confluence of factors that parents experience as they negotiate the adoption process. Included in parent perceptions of the international adoption process is how they conceptualize well-being and what is important for raising a child adopted internationally. This study also explores the life course factors that influence those perceptions of their experience.