Adoption Research, Theses and Publications
Long-Term Mental Health Effects of Mother–Child Separation Due to Adoption
Lynn Roche Zubov 5 March 2026
Study results indicate that adoptees and first mothers are significantly more likely to attempt suicide (35 times and 37.7 times, respectively), abuse alcohol, display hypersexual behaviors, and restrict their eating compared to their peers. The study also finds that adoptees experience trauma from being separated from their first mothers, regardless of the quality of their adoptive parents.
How adoption affects the experience of adult intimate relationships and parenthood: A systematic review by Julia Field and Rachael Pond
New Zealand Journal of Counselling 2018
Practice of adoption in Aotearoa before the 1881 Adoption of Children Act by Erica Newman Māori descent, Iwi unknown. University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand
Vol. 32 No. 3 (2020): Te Komako
Ministry of Justice annual data on adoptions in New Zealand (source: justice.govt.nz) - The data provides the number of adoption applications file and granted, court, locations, and the age and gender of children adopted.
'Walking between worlds': the experiences of New Zealand Māori cross-cultural adoptees by Anita Gibbz and Maria Haenga-Collins, 2015
Embryo Donation or Embryo Adoption? Practice and Policy in the New Zealand Context by Sonja Goedeke, Ken R. Daniels
International Journal of Law, Policy & the Family, Volume 31, Issue 1, April 2017 (10 March 2017)
Blood ties : the labyrinth of family membership in long term adoption reunion. A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University by Browning, Julee A 2005
Closed Stranger Adoption, Māori and Race Relations in Aotearoa New Zealand, 1955-1985. Maria Haenga-Collins 2017
Maira’s thesis is based on the oral histories of social workers, birth parents, and adopted people who have personal experience of ‘closed stranger adoption’ in relation to New Zealand Māori.
Korihi te manu : stories of whāngai and adoption 2022
Contributor(s): Te Wānanga o Raukawa.
Family membership in post-reunion adoption narratives by Julee Browning, Grant Duncan Massey University Albany
Published in Social Policy Journal of New Zealand • Issue 26 • November 2005
'New histories': Creating video work to fill adoption absences by Christine Rogers
Journal of New Zealand Studies December 2019 Issue:29
Relinquishment and adoption: Understanding the impact of an early psychological wound
“Paul Sunderland presenting at iCAAD London 2019. There is a high incidence of addiction and other mental health disorders amongst adoptees, with a disproportionate number presenting for treatment and recovery programs. As early separation is a relational trauma it manifests later in life as problems in relationships. The impact of trauma on functioning is both physical and psychological. iCAAD is a platform dedicated to expanding knowledge, exchanging ideas and advancing well-being.”
Wade in the Water…: Awash in the Sense of Adoption by Denise Blake, Mandy Morgan, Leigh Coombes 2021
Belonging and whakapapa : the closed stranger adoption of Māori children into Pākehā families by Haenga Collins, Maria 2011
A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work, School of Health and Social Sciences, Massey University, Aotearoa New Zealand
Molloy, Maureen. Women's Studies Journal; Auckland, N.Z. Vol. 9, Iss. 1, (Mar 1, 1993): 1.
Adoptee Activism: I Am Not Your ‘Child for All Purposes’ by Denise Blake, Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, Barbara Sumner, February 2023
Authors: Helen Potter (external kaupapa Māori researcher), Míša Urbanová (Oranga Tamariki Evidence Centre)
The May 2023 Updated Literature Review is available here. Authors Lily Deane, Míša Urbanová (Oranga Tamariki Evidence Centre)
Search and reunion : the experiences of New Zealand adult adoptees. A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in psychology at Massey University by Alexander, Sylvia Anne 1994
Adoption Action Inc v Attorney-General [2016] NZFLR 113 / by Paul von Dadelszen by Paul Von Dadelszen
Summarises and comments on the significance of the decision of the Human Rights Tribunal delivered on 7 Mar 2016 in which it ruled on an application by Adoption Action Inc brought against the Attorney-General for declarations under the Human Rights Act 1993 that certain provisions in the Adoption Act 1955 and the Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 (AAIA) are inconsistent with the right to freedom from discrimination provided for in s 19 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 (NZBORA).
Wade in the water: storying adoptees' experiences through the Adoption Act 1955. A thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology at Massey University, Aotearoa/New Zealand by Densie Blake 2013
Law Reform and the Adoption Act 1955: A History of Misfortune
Isla Mirren Doidge - Research Paper for LAWS 526: Law Reform and Policy Submitted for the LLB (Honours) Degree Faculty of Law Victoria University of Wellington 2016
Adoption and Its Alternatives: A Different Approach and a New Framework - Report 65
Law Commission - Te Aka Matua o Te Ture - September 2000
No-man's Land: Adoption Storied Through the Aotearoa/New Zealand Adoption Act 1955 by Denise Blake 2021
A ‘forgotten’ whakapapa: historical narratives of Māori and closed adoption by Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, Denise Blake, Helen Potter, Kim McBreen & Ani Mikaere
August 2022
The ties that bind : an exploratory study into the relationships in open adoption. A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work at Massey University, New Zealand by Maomi Bernadette Hesseking-Green 2015
The Paradoxes of Closed Stranger Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand by Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, Denise Blake & Alison Dixon 2021
Creating fictitious family memories: The closed stranger adoption of Māori children into white families by Maria Haenga-Collins
Source:Journal of New Zealand Studies, No. 29, Dec 2019, 37-47