“The Long Wait” and Other Fields of the Imaginary of Couples Awaiting the Opportunity to Adopt Regarding the Adopted Child

Abstract

This study aimed to psychoanalytically investigate the collective imaginary of couples awaiting the opportunity to adopt, regarding the child that will be adopted. Interviews were conducted using the Thematic Drawing-Story Procedure as the dialogical-mediator resource. The productions were psychoanalytically considered, which produced three fields of affective-emotional meaning: “an adopted child is a happy child”, “happy family”, and “the long wait”. Together, these fields of meaning revealed the anxiety, idealization and suffering experienced by these couples after waiting years for the opportunity to adopt a child. We found that the long wait generates a heavy emotional burden for the couples who intend to adopt, promoting an important impact on future adoptive family relationships.