Becoming son and daugther: stepfamilies through the special adoption policy

TitleBecoming son and daugther: stepfamilies through the special adoption policy
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2013
AuthorsElmetti F, Franchetti M, Moro A, Sartorello L, Segatto B
JournalInterdisciplinary Journal of Family Studies
Volume18
Issue2
Pagination114-131
Date Published12/2013
PublisherPadova University Press
Place PublishedPadova, IT
ISSN Number2282-2011
Keywords“special case” adoptions; stepfamilies; mother-child relationship; father-child relationship; social and health-care services
Abstract

In the last few years Italy assisted at the growth of a new social
phenomenon: the creation of those new families defined in legal terms “special
case adoptions’ families.” Section 44 of law 184/83” (CAI, 2012) defines them “
rejoined families that ask for a legal uphold the role of parenthood achieved via the
new situation”. Thanks to the experience gained in the last 12 years (2001-2013)
the Adoptions Team of ASL [Local Health Authority] of Padua, had the possibility
to observe the genesis and the stabilization of these new familiar nucleus. During a
continuous and meticulous observation the Adoptions Team has developed the
correct modalities and projected the proper tools thanks to which the children
involved as the weakest part of the event can have a correct support. What is
important for the Adoptions Team is to explain and give a meaning to those legal
changes in which the children get, involuntarily, involved. This aspect is
fundamental because it represents a connection with the anguishing past the
children lived but also with the desire to “ransom” their story.

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