The "children of the heart" to "abandoned children" construction "origins" in decision in Spain

For adoptive families and adoptees, discourse on adoption raises a range of questions for discussion in relation to which they negotiate the meaning of the adoption in their life trajectories and identities. Based on the results of an ethnographic research study on the speech of adoptive families, adoptees and adoption practitioners, this article examines how the notion of the "origins" of adoption has been built in Spain, from their concealment to the propagation of the discourse that considers "abandonment" as an inescapable fact in the adoptees' lives. Finally, the implications of the latter are discussed.