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Finding "The Best Interests of the Child"
…no matter how much her young interviewees knew about their adoption
and birth families, they remained curious to know even more.
Professor Wrobel Conducts Groundbreaking Research in Adoption
by Barbara Wright Carlson
On faculty at Bethel University is one of the nation's principal researchers into the dynamics of adoption: Gretchen Wrobel, Ph.D., professor of psychology and winner of Bethel's 2006 Faculty Excellence Award for Scholarship. Wrobel edits the national peer-reviewed newsletter Adoption Quarterly and has contributed pioneering doctoral work on trans-racial adoption.
Currently, Wrobel is focusing on a relatively new field of inquiry: comparing how various levels of contact with birth families affects those who are adopted. To do so, she works as a co-investigator in the multi-site Minnesota/Texas Adoption Research Project (MTARP).
For nearly 20 years, Wrobel has been tracking a selected group of children who were adopted under differing arrangements: some have had no contact between the adoptive family and the child's birth family; others have had mediated adoptions, in which information is shared via a third party (usually a staff member at the adoption agency); and others have had fully disclosed open adoption, in which the birth and adoptive families communicate directly with each other.
"Because these adoption practices have evolved so rapidly in the past 40 years, the field has lacked adequate scientific understanding," says Harold D. Grotevant, the project's principal investigator and a professor in the University of Minnesota's Department of Family Social Science.
In Wave I of the project, from 1987 to 1992, 190 adoptive families and 169 birth mothers were enrolled. Wrobel interviewed the children, between the ages of 4 and 12, while other researchers focused on the parents. Wrobel found that children who had more contact with their birth parents understood at an earlier age the legalities of adoption, such as the legal termination of parental rights. But she also discovered that, no matter how much her young interviewees knew about their adoption and birth families, they remained curious to know even more.
"Some people think that wanting to know about adoption is an adult issue, but kids are thinking about it as well," says Wrobel. "But just because children are curious doesn't mean they're unhappy with their adoptive families. Curiosity is typical for an adoptee," she adds.
Wave II data was collected from 1996 to 2000, when the children were adolescents. At that age, when asked if they were intending to explore their origins, some adoptees decisively answered "no," some remained curious, and others were indifferent.
Now those same children are young adults, ages 20 to 28. The current Wave III study, which will take place from 2005 to 2008, will probe how their relationships growing up may predict the quality of their own close relationships outside their families, as well as their social adjustment and sense of identity. Wrobel is interviewing these young adults by email.
When completed, the MTARP study will contribute valuable findings to the national debate about "the best interests of the child," and help shape agency and state policies about contact between adoptive and birth family members. Over the past 15 years, Grotevant and Wrobel have already presented their findings to audiences of scholars and parents across the U.S. and Europe.
"Research is a passion of mine, though I really do love to teach as well," says Wrobel. "I made a choice to be at a teaching institution." She's grateful Bethel is supportive of her research as she brings the two pursuits together. Wrobel has also engaged a number of Bethel students in the project, and some of them have gone on for advanced study, empowered by their research experience.
Wrobel's husband John teaches seventh grade science, and they have two children: son Alex, 16, and daughter Kathryn, 12.
Amy Gustafson, Katherine
Haegele, and Gretchen Wrobel
Research Prepares Bethel Students for Graduate School
Bethel juniors Amy Gustafson and Katherine Haegele have been working alongside Professor Wrobel on her adoption research. Their role has been to read and categorize transcripts of interviews with adoptive mothers and fathers about attitudes they hold toward their children's search for birth parents.
"Building a relationship with a professor has been a great benefit of doing the research," says Gustafson, a psychology major who plans to go on to graduate school for marriage and family counseling. "It has been fascinating to learn about the research process and to gain real experience."
The data not only contributes to Wrobel's national MTARP study (see left); the students plan to compile their own report and present it at an undergraduate research conference, or publish the findings in a professional psychology journal.
"Taking part in this research has been extremely intriguing and beneficial," echoes Haegele, who intends to earn a doctorate in counseling psychology with an emphasis in children and adolescents. "Not only are we gaining experience in the field of research, but we have also had the unique opportunity to form an incredible working relationship with Dr. Wrobel. "[The experience] will also be a good asset when I begin to apply for grad school.