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Archiver > APG > 2001-04 > 0986748675


From: "Kathy Hinckley" <>
Subject: [APG] Adoption Ethics
Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2001 10:51:15 -0600
In-Reply-To: <200104081144_MC2-CBA7-9662@compuserve.com>


I've enjoyed the thoughtful discussion on adoption and related ethics,
particularly since I have two adopted children, but also because I have
completed many adoption research cases and lecture on the topic. I also have
a nephew who was given-up for adoption nearly 30 years ago and was reunited
with my family when he was 21 years old and learned that he had 3 full-blood
siblings since his parents married about a year after his birth.

The ethics of adoption boil down to the following items:

1. Honoring your own ethics and emotions in doing research in a sensitive
area, knowing that you are changing lives more so than in traditional
research. And the changes can be exceptionally positive or the opposite.

2. The ethics in using or not using "underground" resources such as a birth
index that is not public.

3. The ethics of how to pose questions to public officials to obtain access
to records that they may not allow you to view if they knew the search was
adoption-related. Do you tell them it is an adoption search or not?

4. The ethics of how the research results are presented to the client.
Decisions also need to be made on whether you require permission from the
client to contact the other party first... OR a decision for yourself
whether you want or require that step. There is controversy among
professionals on which style is better.

5. The responsibility of being accurate in your research. This is not
exactly an ethical concern, but it is one of paramount importance. If you
report to the client that "x" is the birth parent and it turns out they are
not, you have disrupted an innocent party.

6. What do you do if in the middle of the search, you discover the client
has a different motive or agenda that you were aware in the beginning? Do
you continue the research because you made the commitment to the job? Or do
you honor your own ethics and refuse to continue?

***
I've personally had a variety of positive and negative results from adoption
research. After a couple of disturbing cases, I had decided to never accept
adoption cases again because there are just too many emotional elements and
results of reunions. But I have found it difficult to totally refuse all
adoption cases, and occasionally accept one. A recent case has given me more
optimism and enjoyment in this field, but I am still very cautious in what
cases I accept.

Kathleen W. Hinckley, CGRS
Specialist in Locating Living Persons
Family Detective
P.O. Box 740637
Arvada, CO 80006-0637
www.familydetective.com

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