ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a qualitative and interpretive inquiry into the information behavior of birthmothers surrounding the processes of decision-making, coping, and living with the act of child relinquishment to adoption. Using an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) study design, a purposeful sample of eight women from across the US who voluntarily relinquished a child within the previous 19 years (since 2000) participated in face-to-face interviews about their own lived experiences. Findings from this study offer several suggestions for policy and practice in the field of adoption. First, information is central to expectant mothers coping with a crisis pregnancy as they consider and explore options, construct versions of future possible selves, and frame their situation to move forward. Second, the voices of participating birthmothers reveal how the phenomenon of child relinquishment is steeped in secrecy and shame; information sources are similarly tinged and filtered through the same stigma. Third, women expressed disappointment and frustration with the scarcity of relevant information; information encounters require significant levels of trust on the part of the information consumer. Navigating unfamiliar information pathways to support such an emotional and deeply personal decision impacts a woman’s means to explore and critically assess options surrounding decisions about an unintended pregnancy. Finally, the lack of role models, relevant information, and support systems contribute to feelings of uncertainty, vulnerability, and powerlessness for women who make and live with an adoption decision.
