This research set out to pilot a methodological approach for researching the relationships between two women who are both ‘mother’ to the same child, in this case formed by open adoption. The pilot design was based on the psychosocial approach developed by Hollway and Jefferson (2009), to understand the relationships at a discursive and a psychic level.

The research was particularly focussed on a relationship that the mothers understood as successful. Families were there are two mothers are an increasingly common form particularly in blended families following separation and re-partnering of parents. Whilst adoption is much less common than it once was, open adoption has led the way in supporting contact relationships between birth and adoptive parents. It is thus a useful family form to research if one is interested in how two women who occupy a maternal role in relation to the same child make meaning of and negotiate their relationship.