Constructing future parental suitability: prospective adoptive parents’ communicative strategies in adoption assessment interviews

Abstract This study examines how Swedish prospective adoptive parents display parental suitability in assessment interviews with social workers. In adoption assessment interviews, applicants are invited, through question-and-answer sequences, to present their knowledge about adoption-related issues and demonstrate their suitability as future adoptive parents. Adoption applicants are also faced with social workers’ attempts to prepare them for future parenthood with advice and guidance. In this high-stakes interaction, however, guidance might indicate the applicants’ lack of central knowledge or insights, which can have potential face-threatening consequences. The data consist of 36 hours of audio recorded assessment interviews. Using interaction analytical methods, the analysis shows how adoption applicants engage in the multi-layered task of managing social workers’ guidance while also demonstrating parental suitability. Adoption applicants are found to take on the perspectives presented by social workers, and simultaneously to maintain their own standpoint, using a two-step procedure: (i) they eagerly claim their knowledge and align with the social worker, and (ii) they demonstrate their adoption-specific knowledge or personal characteristics that support the presentation of their parental suitability. The findings provide insights into the practice of assessing prospective adoptive parents and contribute to the understanding of how applicants establish their self-presentations as suitable future parents while adjusting to institutional requirements in situ.