Samenvatting

This thesis is on institutional communication, and focuses in particular on interactional processes between social workers and prospective adoptive parents in assessment procedures for adoptive parenthood. These assessments are conducted in the Netherlands by the Child Protection Board (hereafter CPB). In order to make recommendations about the suitability of prospective adoptive parents, the CPB is tasked with assessing ‘possible risk and protection factors that might hinder a stable development of the adoptive child towards adulthood’ (CPB, 2001: 62). The assessment procedure includes a health check, whether or not the candidates have a criminal record, written life stories of the prospective adoptive parents and four interviews conducted by a social worker from the CPB. The procedure concludes with a formal record, including a recommendation, that is sent to the Dutch state agency. This thesis concentrates on institutional assessments of adoptive parenthood procedures through text and talk: on assessment in action. It includes an analysis of the interviews related to the life stories of the prospective adoptive parents and the reproduction of both in the recommendation record.