“Somewhere out there”: Parental Claiming in the Preadoption Waiting Period
Journal Article
This article describes the process of parental claiming expressed in multiple interviews conducted with 35 infertile couples waiting to adopt a child. Parental claiming is the special kind of emotional and intellectual work that adopting couples do prior to placement to make someone else's child “somewhere out there” their own. It involves creating an object to claim, undermining the primacy of blood ties, and transforming someone else's child into the right child for them. This kind of work is particularly important to social actors who aspire to statuses to which they know they are not clearly entitled. © 1993, SAGE Publications. All rights reserved.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Sandelowski, M; Harris, BG; Holditch-Davis, D
Published Date
- January 1, 1993
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 21 / 4
Start / End Page
- 464 - 486
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1552-5414
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0891-2416
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1177/089124193021004003
Citation Source
- Scopus