ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that meta-theoretical narrative dominates a field in which very little has been said about fathers, and adopted subjects have been characterised by trauma and the need to seek out their roots and 'rejoin' with their original mothers. In privileging the position of the biological father, it subverts the culturally normative unifying system between mother and child, and asks who the biological father is, what he represents and how his role in adoption may be understood. The chapter explores the dominant constructions of adoptive subjectivity and the ideological and symbolic messages these imply. It presents the construction of subjectivity, the question of parentage and which parents are most significant in the shaping of the adoptive self, as well as what it means to be inscribed with a biological identity. The chapter discusses the apparent incapacity to map the biological father's place within adoption framework is transformed by the voices of adoptees sharing their experiences.
