Responding to the unacknowledged trauma and disenfranchised grief in infant adoption

• Published date: 01 October 2024
• Author: Ann M. Haralambie
• Date: 01 October 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fcre.12831

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Responding to the unacknowledged trauma and

disenfranchised grief in infant adoption

Ann M. Haralambie

Ann Nicholson Harambie Attorney PC, Tucson, Arizona, USA

Correspondence

Ann M. Haralambie, Ann Nicholson

Haralambie Attorney PC, Tucson, AZ, USA.

Email: ann@haralambie.com

Abstract

Recently, there has been more attention paid to trauma

related to adoption. This article addresses the

unacknowledged trauma which may exist with children

adopted in infancy, before they had any retrievable recollec-

tion of their first families. Because this trauma has not been

recognized, there has been inadequate attention paid to the

adoptee's grief at the loss of the first family. This article sug-

gests that all sealed records laws which prevent adoptees

from having access to records otherwise available to non-

adoptees be repealed, that all adoptions be presumed to be

open, with the possibility for ongoing contact with first fam-

ily members, and that more trauma-informed and adoption-

competent therapeutic resources be made available to

adoptees.

KEYWORDS

adoption, adoption trauma, adoption-competent counseling, closed

adoption records, disenfranchised grief, infant adoption, open

adoption, primal wound, sealed records

Key points for the family court community

•Persons adopted in infancy may suffer trauma related to

a“primal wound”or their later understanding of their

loss of connection with their families of origin.

•A presumption in favor of open adoption, with adoptees

having ongoing access to their first families may mitigate

their sense of loss and grief.

DOI: 10.1111/fcre.12831

© 2024 Association of Family and Conciliation Courts.

852 Family Court Rev. 2024;62:852–862.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/fcre