Abstract
In their transition to motherhood, women waiting to adopt a child experience a series of emotions of temporal indetermination. However, the literature addressing the longings inherent to each step of the adoption process is still rather scarce. Thus, this study aimed to understand the feelings experienced by women waiting to adopt in two different moments: the adoption application process and the National Adoption Registry (NAR) queue. This study was conducted with four women, aged between 38 and 44 years, who were active and waiting for less than one year in the NAR. A qualitative analysis verified that different feelings were evoked in each phase of the process. Whereas the adoption application process evoked feelings of apprehension, frustration, pain, and slowness, the process referring to the NAR queue arouse feelings that could be allocated into two different categories: hope and hopelessness. These findings contribute to the existing literature on the adoption waiting process, especially by clarifying the feelings evoked in its different stages.
Keywords:
Maternity; Adoption; Future Adoptive Mothers; Adoption Application; National Adoption Registry