| |
| author |
Anna Walker
| | title |
Birth Mothers in Adoption Reunion Stories: The Complicated Status of Women Who Place Their Children for Adoption
| | abstract |
This thesis aims to answer the question of how birth mothers who place their
children for adoption are constructed through a content analysis of the television show
Long Lost Family. Adoption trends generally are discussed, followed by a discussion of
how mothers are socially constructed and the ways in which they are expected to behave.
Following an overview of the literature on adoption reunion, the findings of the content
analysis are discussed. Mothers are expected to be morally upright and to place their
children before themselves. Given that birth mothers who have placed their children for
adoption are not raising their children, their status as a mother is complicated.
Long Lost Family, however, ultimately positions them as good mothers because they often act in
ways that are in line with intensive mothering (Hays 1996), such as rationalizing their
decisions as being in the child's best interest and continuing to think of and care about the
adoptee. This construction is important because it allows viewers to feel good about the
supposedly inherent bond between a birth mother and child, and allays fears about
deviant mothers by allowing those who may otherwise have been labeled as a bad mother
to be viewed positively. The media's role in disseminating views to those watching is
also important, because this can then impact the ways viewers think about birth mothers.
| | school |
The College of Liberal Arts, Drew University
| | degree |
B.A. (2020)
|
| advisor |
Caitlin Killian
|
| full text | AWalker.pdf |
| |
