Late adoptions

building affective-family bonds from the adoption of children over three years old

Abstract

The theme of this article is to understand late adoption, of children from 03 (three) years of age and adolescents, faced with the challenges of forming new arrangements and affective-family bonds. This discussion is intended, concerning the course and consolidation of the adoption process, in an attempt to understand what are the motivations that commonly lead to the decision for this type of adoption, as well as what are the difficulties faced by the adoptees in the same process. In no other sense, the intention is to break ideal standards and expectations, notably regarding the reality of children and adolescents available for adoption in Brazil. Therefore, it is necessary to elucidate some issues related to racism and the petit-bourgeois patriarchal mentality, analyzing the challenges arising from this in the construction of new family links, specifically in the midst of the culture and adoptive practices still in force in our society. Finally, the aim is to indicate which itineraries still need to be followed, so that adoption - especially late adoption - could be effectively seen and lived as a full experience of family and parenthood in our country. These considerations and critical reflections on late adoption and the culture of adoption in Brazil are conceived based on the indicated bibliography – Azambuja (2003), Baranoski (2016), Levinzon (2004), Maldonato (2001), Maux e Dutra (2010), Silva (2009), Webber (1999, 2010) among others – and on the statements of documents and legal devices, such as the Federal Constitution of 1988, the Adoption Law (nº 13.509/2017) and the Statute of Children and Adolescents (Law nº 8069/1990).