tates (Partridge, 1991, pp. 197-208). This system is referred to as a closed adoption system (CAS). Critics of the CAS contend that the systems demands that adopted children disavow reality by repressing yearnings for lost mothers and fathers, and that adopted children adapt to changed situations. Such adaptation, according to the critics of the CAS, frequently causes adopted adolescents to seek authenticity through fantasy or rebellious behavior.
Lifton (1990, pp. 85-91) argued that adoptees experience difficulty in forming a coherent self within an incoherent adoption system in the United States. She suggested that such problems may be preventable by introducing more openness and honesty into the adoption system in this country at early stages of the adoption process. While this suggestion appears to be valid, it does not directly address the issue of the problems faced by adopted adolescents and their adoptive parents. Grotevant, McRoy, Elde, and Fravel (1994, pp. 125-146) found, however, that the introduction of greater openness into the relationships between adopted adolescents and their adoptive parents even during these latter stages of the adoptive family life can generate significant benefits. These benefits include a perception by both adopted adolescents and their adoptive parents of a stronger sense of permanence of the relationship.
Kirschner (1990, pp. 93-100) identified several negative behaviors associated with ACS. These behaviors include pathological lying, learning problems, and increasingly serious antisocial actions. Kirschner (1990, pp. 93-100) concluded that a major unmet needs within the context of ACS was a widespread professional failure to address adoption as a therapeutic issue. Self-image of adoptees, together with parental denial and resistance, were identified as critical issues that must be addressed. Partridge (1991, pp. 197-208) identified the major challenges faced by adoptive adolesce...