Current Research

 

 

Financial Decision-Making in Adoption: A primary goal of this study is to identify families’ total adoption expenses and analyze if this varied by type of adoption. A secondary goal of this research is to examine the ways in which families received financial support toward adoption expenses. 

How Children Perceive & Rationalize Lies: We are examining the ways in which children interpret lies told by authority figures and their overall interpretation of situations that may or may not contain mistruths. 

Choosing to Adopt During Infertility Treatment: Of the many avenues open to families dealing with infertility, adoption is a potential path they can take. Following a series of studies exploring the path to parenthood via adoption, this study explored the early phases of decision-making when parents are faced with infertility adversity. Infertility treatment has low success rates, can be expensive, and poses potential health risks (Park, Nicholas, & Hill, 2014). Some families pursue adoption as an alternative means to grow their families (Jones, 2008). Adoption is sometimes viewed as problematic because of strict policies, instability of outcome, high costs, and the low availability of “preferred children” (usually infants). Adoption is often the last choice families make after they have exhausted all treatment options. After spending a year or more of not conceiving, we explored the decisions families made in relation to adoption to grow their families.