Are women in conflict with maternity? Giving a child in adoption or the transgression of the ideal of motherhood

Abstract

The present article focuses on the institutional procedures involved in cases of women who decide to give their child in adoption and solicit for assistance at the Adoption Unit of the National Service of Infancy (SENAME). Based on the literature, the authors have tried to understand how the phenomenon of motherhood is being conceptualized at present and how it is articulated with the concrete experience in an institutional context. As a result, ideological aspects of these procedures are shown in order to discuss the consequences of handing down a child in adoption, action which would constitute a transgression as it questions the biological foundation of relationships within the family. Finally, the authors consider the need for specific clinical aspects in the practice of adoption capable of including the symbolic dimension of filiation and attachment.