Adoption Facts 2022: Adopting Adults and Relationship Issues Revealed
Adopting an adult comes with its challenges, especially if the person has had a rough life start. It’s often carried forward, making it emotionally challenging to form relationship bonds, leading to adoption abandonment issues, and much more.
However, being adopted and placed with a completely new family to start fresh has truly been life-changing for many if tackled properly. There’s no replacement for being surrounded by a family member who offers love, support, and beyond, be it an adoptive family.
Yes, the relationship issues paired with adult adoption are unavoidable to some extent. We have compiled relevant information on how people can tackle and move forward to harbor solid adoptive relationships. Let’s take a look.
Reasons For Adult Adoption
There are various reasons, hence adult adoptions are becoming more common these days. The reasons can depend on each individual’s situation. The most popular scenario is when a stepparent feels the need to adopt their stepchildren. If you are wondering whether you can adopt someone over 18, the answer is yes. Foster parents mainly apply for the adoption process when their foster children reach the age of 18.
Some of the other reasons for adult adoption are stated below:
1. Long-Term Care
A trusted caretaker becomes the most important person for people with physical mobility limitations or who are mentally incapacitated. Adopting a caregiver enables them to make financial and medical decisions on their behalf. A caretaker who has been with the family can become like a family member.
2. Inheritance Transfer
This is due to the ease of inheritance, where adult adoption enables the adoptee to transfer inherited properties and financial assets legally.
3. Legalizing Existing Relationships
If there’s an adult who does not belong to the biological family but still plays an important role with non-relatives, they can apply to be adopted in order to formally claim their relationship through adoptive adults.
4. Reuniting with a Birth Parent
This is when an adult wants to reconnect with their birth parents and legalize their relationship.
5. Protecting Family Assets
Parents who don’t have children resort to adopting a child to transfer their legacy and more importantly protect their assets. Childless parents can adopt an adult with whom a close relationship has been established to protect their legacy.
How Does Adult Adoption Affect Relationships
Adult adoption is related to emotional difficulties, leading to relationship issues in the long run. Although, it’s not necessarily the only scenario and what they actually stem from.
We have combined a set of points to discuss how or why it may affect relationships.
1. Low-esteem
2. Fear of rejection
3. Fear of change
4. Fear of abandonment
Research suggested a connection between insecure infact bonding to caregivers and adult relationship struggles. However, most adoptees seemed to have a secure attachment from birth, so the correlation between these two cannot be confirmed.
Although adult depression and anxiety have been linked with low self-esteem and fear of rejection, causing relationship issues in an adult adoption.
How To Tackle Relationship Issues in Adult Adoption?
Remember, there’s no “one-size-fits-all” in the concept of adoption. Everyone is unique in their own ways, and carries baggage from their past. In fact, anyone who is aware and knows about these certain relationship struggles may develop further confusion in some cases, especially if the adoptive adult is unsure about their fears and emotional stability.
It’s important to stay in touch with a licensed therapist to seek professional help. A professional’s advice can make a huge difference in the transitional phase if you want to overcome relationship issues. A counselor, more importantly, can provide support to tackle any adoptee relationship problems.
They help to identify, determine, and finally work out what needs to be done to settle down and move towards a healthy relationship. On the other hand, you can always help yourself by reading books about relationships and self-awareness to start the groundwork on your own.
Meanwhile, we strongly suggest you to speak to other supportive and trustworthy friends and family members about your situation. It’s important to remind yourself that you need to be open to love, and some people will stand by you, support you, and love you through thick and thin.
Conclusion
Before concluding our blog on adopting adults and relationship issues, let’s remind you that the entire process of adoption can be simple if you follow all the legal proceedings accordingly. If you do some homework, you may even be able to skip hiring a legal professional or an adoption lawyer unless your situation is complicated. The process of adoption should not take more than 90 days.
Therefore, with full consent between the two parties, and if all the requirements have been met, adoption can be completed faster than ever. Although, we do recommend you check your state law before starting your application.