Paper short abstract:

My paper is about adoption as experienced in contemporary Poland, especially by the children. I discuss numerous ethical and methodological challenges. How to represent children's voices which are often treated as suspect? How to relate to imbalances of power?

Paper long abstract:

Contemporary models of family undergo substantial transformations, thus the meaning and cultural patterns of adoption also change. This paper is based on a research project which aims to analyse, from the anthropological perspective, adoption as it is experienced in contemporary Poland; and especially, to allow for the voices of children to become a part of the adoption debate.

In such research, numerous ethical dilemmas and methodological challenges may arise. Some relate to knowledge and its sources. Parents may be aware with the facts of the child's life, which they do not reveal to him/her, but reveal to the researcher. This also refers to medical or psychological diagnoses. A question arises: is it possible to know too much about our research subjects? Or, on the contrary, parents may be afraid that the child will tell "too much" of her situation, or not tell the truth. This is because children's voices are often treated as suspect. In relation to other actors: how one should conduct research in the situation of disagreements between parents? How should we ethically conduct research in families, where interests and voices of actors differ? How to represent these voices? How should a researcher relate to imbalances of power? And, finally, how to represent the state as an important agent in the adoption's constellation, influencing the voices of the parties involved?