These data were collected as part of an ESRC study exploring the experiences of adopted adults who were now parents, and adoptive parents who had become grandparents. The aim was to better understand the long term impact of adoption on adopted people and adoptive parents, including the arrival of the next generation (children of adopted people). Parents and grandparents were interviewed using a 'life story' interview method (adapted from the work of Dan McAdams) where participants gave an account of their whole life, including adoption and becoming a parent/grandparent. This method generated very rich data about how people viewed their whole life and the role of adoption in their life, with interviews lasting from 1-5 hours. The archive consists of the anonymised transcripts of in-depth interviews with the two groups of participants: (1) 38 people who were adopted as children and who have now become parents (20 mothers and 18 fathers, age range 21-54 years, mean = 33. Age at adoption varied from 0-12, with 60% being adopted over age 1 - median 1.5 years, mean 3.2 years). (2) 43 adoptive parents who are now grandparents through their adopted child/ren (23 grandmothers and 20 grandfathers, age range 47-75 years). This is almost the full dataset from the project - only 2 fathers withheld consent for their transcript to go in the archive. NB adopted adults are described as mothers or fathers; adoptive parents are described as grandmothers or grandfathers. Almost all participants were living in England and had adopted/been adopted in England. Small numbers were living in Scotland or Wales. Interviews took place in 2019-2020. Also archived is data about the demographics of the participants. About half the sample consisted of 'linked' cases - where more than one member of a family had taken part, and information is given about which interviews are linked to each other. Finally, study materials are archived (leaflets, information and debrief sheets, interview schedules, demographic data collection form, consent form).For 20 years UK policy has encouraged the adoption of children from care, and tens of thousands are now of an age where they could become a parent. This compulsory form of adoption is controversial at home and abroad and it is vital to fully research the lifespan effects - including what happens when adoptees become parents to the next generation. A child's birth is a key event in any family, bringing joys and challenges. This study will provide a new understanding of the lived experiences and needs of people adopted from care who are now parents, and of adoptive parents who are now grandparents. It will inform support to help adopted young people to prepare for parenthood, promote their resilience, and support them as parents. The majority of children adopted from care will have experienced early adversities such as loss, abuse and neglect. Adoption offers permanence in a new family, but even so about half of adopted young people are likely to have psychological problems which carry on into adulthood. Studies of vulnerable parents (e.g. care leavers) show they are at risk of early parenthood, parenting difficulties, even their own children going into care. But for some, having a child is a positive choice and a healing experience. This study will explore the positives and the challenges of becoming a parent from the perspective of people adopted from care. The concept of 'resilience' (healthy development after exposure to risk) is key and the risk and protective factors that can affect resilience in the context of parenting will be a central focus. This study will also shine a light on the lifelong identity issues for adopted people. For adoptees, building identity can be hampered by gaps in their known life history, feelings of being different or stigmatised, and a lack of connection with birth relatives. Becoming a parent can stir up identity concerns and trigger a search for birth family, but these issues are unexplored for people adopted from care, many of whom will have retained some form of contact with birth relatives. We will explore how adopted people make meaning of their whole life history, including being adopted and being a parent, adding to our understanding of narrative identity development for adoptees in adulthood. The research will also include the perspective of parents who adopted a child from care and who are now grandparents. Adoption has lifelong implications for adopters too, but there is no research on the grandparenting stage of family life in 'from care' adoptions. Because of the ongoing vulnerability of many young people adopted from care, it is important to include grandparents because they may be providing vital support to their child and grandchild. In-depth interview data from 40 adopted people who are now parents (20 men, 20 women), and 40 adoptive parents who are now grandparents will be collected and the sample will include a mixture of linked parent/grandparent cases and non-linked cases. Narrative and thematic analysis methods will be used to answer the research questions. The involvement of stakeholders (professionals, adoptees and adoptive parents) will inform the recruitment of participants, the data collection and analysis will help generate a sound understanding of practice and policy implications. Adoption from care is an extreme intervention in family life and a major focus of policy and investment in the UK. There is a moral responsibility to understand its impact across the lifespan; this project will generate insights about longer term outcomes. It will benefit society though building understanding of a particularly complex and challenging family form with a mixture of biological, legal and relational ties. It will benefit academics interested in narrative identity, adoption, vulnerable parents, grand-parenting, and resilience. Maximum impact on practice will be achieved through working with stakeholders to disseminate findings in a range of formats to different audiences.

Participants were recruited using a range of methods. Adoption UK, an adoptive parent membership organisation, sent out mailings to their members about the study. The Post Adoption Centre, who work with all parties affected by adoption, also sent out mailings. Recruitment was also via snowball sampling, including via the professional contacts of the research team and through participants telling other members of their family about the study. The study was publicised on social media (Facebook and Twitter). Thus this was a convenience sample, and may have reached primarily families in touch with adoption organisations, or following adoption -related people or content on social media. Primarily recruitment was focused on people who were adopted or who adopted a child from 1989 onwards, this coinciding with a period of policy promoting the adoption of children from the care system in England and Wales. We aimed to recruit primarily people adopted through the child protection system, but without excluding other forms of adoption such as “relinquished” infants, and overseas adoptions (hence reflecting how adoption has mainly been used since 1989 in England and Wales). Study design, and recruitment were informed through consultation with four stakeholder groups: adopted adults who are parents; adoptive parents who are grandparents; professionals working in adoption; academic advisory group. A quota sampling method was used to ensure that the study recruited a diverse range of individuals as our aim was to hear about a wide range of possible experiences. The first consideration was gender-we recruited roughly equal numbers of men and women. It proved harder to recruit adopted men who were fathers to the study, and in order to recruit 20 adopted men, the research team needed to be flexible in terms of when the father was adopted. This resulted in the sample of adopted fathers generally being older than the mothers, adopted in the more distant past, and more likely to be adopted as “relinquished” infants compared to the mothers (reflecting the historical period in which they were adopted). The adopted fathers therefore had a higher mean age at interview, but a lower mean age at adoption compared to the adopted mothers. Because we were aiming to hear from individuals with a wide range of experiences of adoption, other characteristics that we deliberately set out to ensure were included in the adopted parents and adoptive grandparents sample were: adoptions over the age of five; adoption of sibling groups; transracial adoptions; adoption by single parents or foster parents; adopted adults and adoptive parents who had become estranged from each other; adopted parents who were not living with their children (for example because the child was in care, adopted, or living with another parent or relative); people from ethnic minority groups, adoptions where there had been ongoing birth family contact; adopted adults who became parents as teenagers. In discussion with stakeholder groups, quotas were set for the minimum number of people in the above categories to be included in the sample. Towards the end of data collection this meant that we needed to turn some participants away in order to reserve places in the study for people with particular characteristics. Participants were interviewed using an adapted version of McAdams life story interview method. This asks the person to describe their life now, before telling the story of their life in chapters, including being adopted (or adopting) and becoming a parent (or grandparent). A series of questions about 'key scenes' in their life follow, such as high points, low points, turning points and key challenges. Final questions are specific to this study and focus on family dynamics including birth family relationships and support services. Some participants were from the same family e.g. adoptive mother, adoptive father and adopted daughter in one family may have all been interviewed. Information about which cases are linked is provided as there are extra ethical issues involved in analysing at the family level. Where people from the same family took part, they were always interviewed separately. Almost all interviews were carried out face-to-face,a small number took place during the pandemic in 2020, and these were carried out using video calling. Interviews ranged in length from 1 hour to 5 hours, grandparent interviews tending to be longer. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and anonymised. Ethical approval for the study was granted by the University of East Anglia School of Social Work Research ethics committee.