ABSTRACT
The present article is part of a broader research on the parent-child bond in late adoptions. This study aimed to investigate the motivations for late adoption, seeking to analyze the role of the work done by the Adoption Support Groups in the moment of choosing the profile. The authors interviewed ten independent subjects, three men and seven women, who adopted children older than two years, and they analyzed the interviews using the content analysis method. The desire to experience parenthood proved to be the imperative motivation in the moment of seeking for an adoption. In general, the motivations for late adoption presented themselves permeated by myths that are established as beliefs, producing impeditive or driving effects. Altruism as motivation for late adoption emerged in the present study as a complicating factor since what prevails is the desire to be the savior and not the desire to save. The authors highlight the work done by the Adoption Support Groups as a fundamental factor in the deconstruction of the myths and fantasies of the applicants, in raising awareness both on the true profile of the sheltered children and late adoption as a possibility.
Keywords:
Motivation for adoption; late adoption; parenthood