NEWS

As of today, we welcome Dr. Aytüre Türkyilmaz as a new research assistant in our project. She brings extensive experience in the field of childhood and socialization research and will enrich our project with her expertise and perspectives. As part of the project team at the TU Dortmund, she is now the contact person for adoption applicants who would like to participate in our study on adoption placement in Germany.

We are very pleased to have her as part of our team and look forward to working with her.

From July 6 to 11, we participated in the 5th ISA Forum of Sociology in Rabat, Morocco. The sociology conference provided a valuable opportunity to engage in dialogue with international scholars who are also conducting research in the field of adoption. Theoretical perspectives and current research findings were explored in stimulating discussions, providing exciting insights for our project.

On June 24, we had the opportunity to present our research project to the LVR's inter-regional working group for adoption agencies. The open and constructive dialogue with the professionals in attendance provided us with valuable insights into the practice of adoption placement.

We would like to express our sincere thanks to the LVR for the invitation and the opportunity to exchange ideas. The diverse perspectives and suggestions from practitioners are of great importance for our further scientific work.  The dialogue that began here is particularly important to us as a research team, and we look forward to continuing and deepening it together throughout the course of the project.  

During the current summer semester, we are offering seminars on the topic of “Parenthood in Transition – The Example of Adoption” in the bachelor's degree programs Education and Social Work at the University of Duisburg-Essen. From an academic perspective, we examine how societal trends have shaped ideas about parenthood and family and how these changes are reflected in the historical evolution of adoption services.

The seminars give students an in-depth insight into this important field and encourage them to critically examine current issues. The discussions highlight how important it is to be aware of the particular challenges and dynamics in the context of adoption.

Research for the EliA project is in full swing: field access has started successfully. We have been able to connect with professionals in adoption agencies and have already gained exciting insights through our preliminary discussions. We have also explored potential connections to adoption applicants and have now established our first contacts. The project has met with broad interest on both sides. The first interviews have been arranged for the coming weeks and we are looking forward to the upcoming discussions!

To kick off our project, we organized a joint meeting between the two research teams from Dortmund and Essen. We prepared the groundwork of our project, discussed initial analytical approaches, and coordinated the next steps. The meeting also produced our first team photo. We look forward to continuing our collaboration!

We are delighted to announce the official start of our DFG project in July 2024. On our project website, we will regularly report on news from our day-to-day research. We will also provide information about our publications and upcoming lectures.

The project is listed by the DFG under the more comprehensive title: "Good Parents – Adoption Services in Germany from the Perspective of Applicants and Mediators": https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/524945366