Lord Pat C
Narrat Inq Bioeth. 2018;8(2):143-149. doi: 10.1353/nib.2018.0052.
Adoption is one of several ways to have a family. Adoption is unique in that it involves birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees. For many adoptees, there is no information about their birth family health history which can create healthcare challenges. In these narratives, many adoptees discuss genetic testing as a substitution for their birth family health history which is one common theme in these stories. However, two narratives illustrate the value of an on-going family health history with birth families to identify health risks that are not identified in genetic testing but evolve over time. Another theme in these narratives is the adoptees' feeling of loss and their search for self-identity. For some adoptees this sense of loss never goes away and leaves them with an incomplete identity. Society, but especially adoptive parents, should help adoptees' in this search to help them cope with the sense of loss and incompleteness adoption can create and form a healthy self-identity.
收养是组建家庭的几种方式之一。收养的独特之处在于它涉及亲生父母、养父母和被收养者。对于许多被收养者来说，他们没有关于亲生家庭健康史的信息，这可能会带来医疗保健方面的挑战。在这些叙述中，许多被收养者将基因检测视为替代亲生家庭健康史的方式，这是这些故事中的一个共同主题。然而，有两个叙述说明了与亲生家庭保持持续的家庭健康史对于识别基因检测中未发现但会随时间演变的健康风险的价值。这些叙述中的另一个主题是被收养者的失落感以及他们对自我身份的探寻。对一些被收养者来说，这种失落感永远不会消失，使他们的身份不完整。社会，尤其是养父母，应该在这种探寻中帮助被收养者，以帮助他们应对收养可能带来的失落感和不完整感，并形成健康的自我身份认同。
