Editing Adoption (section)

=== Public perception of adoption ===
[[File:Anne of Green Gables.jpg|thumb|280px|Actors at the [[Anne of Green Gables]] Museum on [[Prince Edward Island]], Canada. Since its first publication in 1908, the story of the orphaned Anne, and how the Cuthberts took her in, has been widely popular in the English-speaking world and, later, Japan.]]
In Western culture, many see the common image of a family as being that of a heterosexual couple with biological children. This idea places alternative family forms outside the norm. As a consequence – research indicates – disparaging views of adoptive families exist, along with doubts concerning the strength of their family bonds.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Adoption, Family Ideology, and Social Stigma: Bias in Community Attitudes, Adoption Research, and Practice|first=Katarina|last=Wegar|journal=Family Relations|volume=49|issue=4|pages=363–370| jstor = 585831|year=2000|doi=10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00363.x}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi = 10.2307/353920| jstor = 353920| title = Perception of Adoption as Social Stigma: Motivation for Search and Reunion| journal = Journal of Marriage and the Family| volume = 57| issue = 3| pages = 653–660| year = 1995| last1 = March | first1 = K. }} p. 654.</ref>

The most recent adoption attitudes survey completed by the Evan Donaldson Institute provides further evidence of this stigma. Nearly one-third of the surveyed population believed adoptees are less-well adjusted, more prone to medical issues, and predisposed to drug and alcohol problems. Additionally, 40–45% thought adoptees were more likely to have behavior problems and trouble at school. In contrast, the same study indicated adoptive parents were viewed favorably, with nearly 90% describing them as "lucky, advantaged, and unselfish".<ref>National Adoption Attitudes Survey, June 2002, Evan Donaldson Institute, page 20 and 38."</ref>

The majority of people state that their primary source of information about adoption comes from friends and family and the news media. Nevertheless, most people report the media provides them a favorable view of adoption; 72% indicated receiving positive impressions.<ref>National Adoption Attitudes Survey, June 2002, Evan Donaldson Institute, page 47"</ref> There is, however, still substantial criticism of the media's adoption coverage. Some adoption blogs, for example, criticized ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]'' for using outdated orphanage imagery<ref>[http://adopteesx3.blogspot.com/2007/04/usa-today-article-on-meet-robinsons.html 3 Generations of Adoption, 12 April 2007]</ref><ref>[http://www.mayasmom.com/talk/a8739/meet_the_robinsons Maya's Mom, 7 April 2007] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080503182943/http://www.mayasmom.com/talk/a8739/meet_the_robinsons |date=3 May 2008 }}</ref> as did advocacy non-profit The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute.<ref>{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080503124705/http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/media/20070409_press_disney.php The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, 9 April 2007 press release]}}</ref>

The stigmas associated with adoption are amplified for children in [[foster care]].<ref>National Adoption Attitudes Survey, June 2002, Evan Donaldson Institute, page 20."</ref> Negative perceptions result in the belief that such children are so troubled it would be impossible to adopt them and create "normal" families.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/policy/polface.html |title=Policy and Practice: Many Faces of Adoption |access-date=2006-03-12 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219052542/http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/policy/polface.html |archive-date=19 February 2006}} The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute</ref> A 2004 report from the Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care has shown that the number of children waiting in foster care doubled since the 1980s and now remains steady at about a half-million a year."<ref>http://pewfostercare.org/docs/index.php?DocID=41 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051217144829/http://pewfostercare.org/docs/index.php?DocID=41 |date=17 December 2005 }} The Pew Commission of Children in Foster Care</ref>

Attitude toward Adoption Questionnaire (ATAQ):<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337290953 |title=The Development and Standardization of Psychometric Criteria of Attitude toward Adoption Questionnaire (ATAQ) and its Relation to Prosocial Behavior and Character Strengths |date=November 2019 |first1=Hasan |last1=Abdollahzadeh |first2=Ommolbanin |last2=Chaloui
|first3=Hiva  |last3=Mahmoudi |via=[[ResearchGate]]}}</ref> this questionnaire was first developed by Abdollahzadeh, Chaloyi and Mahmoudi(2019).<ref>Abdollahzadeh, H., Chaloui.O., Mahmoudi, H.(2019). The Development and Standardization of Psychometric Criteria of Attitude toward Adoption Questionnaire (ATAQ) and its Relation to Prosocial Behavior and Character Strengths, International Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences (IJABS),6(1),1–12. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22037/ijabs.v6i1.26379</ref> Preliminary Edition: This questionnaire has 23 items based on the Likert scale of 1 (totally Disagree), up to 5 (Totally Agree) being obtained after refining the items designed to construct the present tool and per-study study. The analysis of item and initial psychometric analyses indicate that there are two factors in it. Items 3-10-11-12-14-15-16-17-19-20-21 are reversed and the rest are graded positively. The results of exploratory factor analysis by main components with varimax rotation indicated two components of attitude toward adoption being named respectively cognitive as the aspects of attitude toward adoption and behavioral-emotional aspects of attitude toward adoption. These two components explained 43.25% of the variance of the total sample. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was used to measure the reliability of the questionnaire. Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.709 for the whole questionnaire, 0.71 for the first component, and 0.713 for the second one. In addition, there was a significant positive relationship between desired social tendencies and the cognitive aspect of attitude toward adoption as well as the behavioral -emotional aspects of attitude toward adoption (P ≤ 0.01).