Subjective theories about waiting time and experiences from adoptive parenting

The adoption process includes important changes in adoptive families, since it implies a restructuring and adaptation to a new orga-nization of the family system. The path parenthood entails changes at levels of mental, physical and social health, which in the case of adoptive parents, the challenges are greater or are altered in some way due to the unique characteristics of their experiences and the obstacles they face. To these challenges are added the usual stressors that parents face, such as changes in roles, increased stress, lack of sleep, alterations in the relationship and intimacy of the couple and difficulties that arise in raising their children. On the other hand, time is configured as concrete dimension through which life develop. The relationship between objective time and subjective or psychological time will shape the perception of time that each person has, which has a role in how both individual and family identity develops. This is because people ' s actions are influenced by past experiences, current experiences and future expectations. One of the areas of the adoption process that has not yet been deepened is the waiting time, the period of time between obtaining the suitability and assignment of the minor the adoptive family, which can be considered important for the future family depending on how adoptive parents face it, this because the way in which the adoption process is experi-enced impacts both the path to parenthood and post-adoption adaptation. In fact, it confirms that waiting time influences the psychological well-being of adoptive parents. Therefore, is possible to say that adoptive parents elabo-rate subjective theories about this process and especially in relation to the waiting time for adoption, explanations that could influence the way in which they face this new challenge and prepare for parenthood. The present study aimed to understand subjective theories about the waiting time and experiences of adoptive parenting. Ten adop-tive mothers and fathers participated in this study through individual episodic interviews. The data obtained were analyzed using tech- niques of three analysis procedures: content based on Grounded Theory, specific for subjective theories and time perspective. From the findings, subjective theories of anxious emotional content during the adop- tion process stand out, since parents experi- ence great uncertainty, either in terms of how long they can wait before being paired with a child or in terms of the perception of a lack of transparency regarding the real possibilities of adoption given their preferences and abilities, emotions will depend on the handling of infor- mation and the accompaniment that they have. The main coping strategies used by the adop- tive parents were having a support network, sharing experiences with other parents and the use of personal strategies are the main adapta- tion strategies of adoptive parents, which they allow them to cope with negative feelings during the process. Also, their concerns focus on the lack of protection of children and the health conditions in which they are received, this given the possibility that they couldn't recover the child's integral health and that the period they have remained institutionalized is a risk factor for attachment. Regarding the limitations, it should be noted that emerging families such as reuni- fied, homo or single-parent families were not included in this study, but rather it was focused on interviewing families whose configuration is considered to be traditional. Finally, important points to deepen in future research would be the study of subjective theories on adaptation of adoptive families with different configurations, also replicating studies that allow establishing the concept of waiting time in adoption and studies that include adoptive parenting experiences on parents of minors with health or develop- mental problems.