Critical Adoption Theory (CAT), also known as Bastard Theory, is a developing critical social scientific theory led by Dr Claire McGettrick, born Lorraine Hughes, an adopted person, researcher and advocate. CAT seeks to better understand how adoption operates and impacts people’s lives. It will be developed in collaboration with adoption-affected people, examining how adoption laws, policies, practices and wider social attitudes shape people’s identities, relationships, experiences and wellbeing. Drawing on critical social theory, CAT challenges explanations that focus primarily on individual psychological struggles or triumphs, instead examining the role of adoption systems and the social and institutional conditions that shape people’s experiences and responses. CAT builds on Claire’s Irish Research Council-funded doctoral research, conducted at the at the School of Sociology in University College Dublin. The doctoral dissertation and related publications provide the intellectual foundations for CAT’s ongoing development. Further information, research and resources will be added as CAT develops. Read more about CAT here.