Working with Adoptive Parents

Research, Theory, and Therapeutic Interventions

Practical techniques for guiding parents through the stages of adoption and beyond

"This book makes a significant contribution to both a greater understanding of adoption and its complex dynamic constellations as well as to serving those who are or come across adoption families, many of whom count on us adoption-informed mental health professionals to clarify and facilitate the challenges they face."
—From the Foreword by Henri Parens, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Thomas Jefferson University, Training and Supervising Analyst, Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

"What most people don't know about adoption could fill a book—and this is the book. Finally sorting myth from science, Working with Adoptive Parents will give therapists, and quite a few nonprofessionals considering adoption, the real story of what it means to make this momentous choice. Better yet, it does so without letting the data speak in place of the parents themselves, in all their fear, doubt, and joy."
—Jesse Green, author of The Velveteen Father: An Unexpected Journey to Parenthood

Editors Virginia Brabender and April Fallon are clinical psychologists and also adoptive parents whose families are acquainted with both the uncertainty and joy of adoption. In Working with Adoptive Parents, they offer an in-depth treatment of the distinctive needs, feelings, impulses, expectations, and conflicts that adoptive parents experience through the stages of adoption and beyond. This volume offers a comprehensive picture of adoption through an exploration of the experiences and developmental processes of the adoptive parent.

Featuring contributions from mental health professionals whose careers have focused on work with families through the adoption process, this unique book:

• Covers the theory, research, and practice of adoptive parenting throughout the life cycle
• Explores the issues unique to the adoptive mother and adoptive father as they traverse the stages of parenting
• Offers a close look at families with special needs children
• Acknowledges and explores the great diversity among adoptive families and the kinship networks in which they are embedded
• Examines attachment issues between adoptive parent and child

Providing a framework for therapists to conceptualize their work with adoptive parents, Working with Adoptive Parents clarifies and facilitates the journey that many of these families face.