From Story to Connection: Photovoice-based online workshops to support identity exploration and belonging among adult transnational adoptees

Sammanfattning

About 60,000 transnational adoptees live in Sweden, making it the country with the highest per capita rate globally. Despite policy developments and governmental regulations, recent inquiries have acknowledged ongoing irregularities in previous adoptions and failures by Swedish authorities to ensure that adoptions have served the child’s best interests. Today, the government and authorities had begun shifting their focus from seeing adoption as a rescue aid and solution to childlessness toward recognizing the adoptees’ rights. ​ These rights included providing sufficient long-term support and information, as existing for post-adoptive services were considered insufficient and did not address key topics such as identity, belonging, racism, and access to professional expertise. This gap in support left transnational adoptees alone in addressing identity challenges, cultural discontinuity, and racialization. Previous research indicated the importance of peer support for transnational adoptees, but empirical evidence, particularly on participatory and art-based approaches, remained limited. The aim of this study was to explore the extent to which qualitative designs, using photovoice, group discussion, and individual reflective journaling, would complement future post-adoption services. The findings suggested that identity work among transnational adoptees is an ongoing lifelong process. The workshops helped the adoptees to support, validate and re-create their own identity narratives through shared stories, and created a feeling of belonging within the group. However, the workshops, did not initiate or completed anyone’s identity development. The study suggested that photovoice could serve as a useful complement to future post-adoption services and emphasized the importance of more structured collective spaces for adoptees