About the Book
This volume addresses the special set of issues that arise in therapeutic work with parents and children in families formed through complex adoption and assisted reproductive technology (ART). The authors describe the wide range of new options that are available to couples and single adults, including those who face medical or social barriers to parenthood. In the area of adoption, thousands of children in foster and institutional care in the United States and abroad are awaiting permanent placements. Open adoption, kinship adoption, and transracial adoption are transforming family life, as is the use of ART, which raises many issues of family identity and family process. Key themes explored include the significance of early experience, the capacity to recover from exposure to trauma, the impact of heredity and the difference that environment can make, and the centrality of primary attachment relationships. Also discussed are issues affecting lesbian and gay families and other families of difference. Combining in-depth case material with a vast body of developmental, clinical, and ecological research, the book provides an integrative framework for clinical practice.
It also spells out new ideas and future directions for training and research.
Table of Contents:
I. New Family Narratives: An Approach to Practice
1. A Conceptual Framework for Practice
2. Developmental Perspectives and Clinical Issues in Complex Adoption
II. Complex Adoption
3. The Adoption of Children Following Foster Placement
4. The Impact of Delayed Adoption: A Case Study
5. International Adoption and Family Formation
6. Skipped-Generation Kinship Care: Grandparents and Their Grandchildren
7. Open Adoption: Family Attachments and Identity Formation
III. Assisted Reproductive Technology and Family Formation
8. Social and Scientific Changes in the Formation of Families
9. Family Identity and Emerging Psychological Issues
10. Single, Gay, and Lesbian Parents: New Family Perspectives
IV. Implications for Practice, Training, and Research
11. A Clinical Look at Knowing and Telling: Secrets, Lies, and Disillusionments, Marsha H. Levy-Warren
12. New Forms of Parentage: Implications for Practice, Training, and Research
About the Author :
Vivian B. Shapiro, PhD, is Emeritus Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan. Dr. Shapiro helped found the Infant Mental Health Association in Michigan, and is in practice in Princeton, New Jersey. Her research and publications have focused on the treatment of children at risk and the use of narrative theory in practice with nontraditional families. Her current clinical work includes treatment of children in international and complex adoption.
Janet R. Shapiro, MSW, PhD, is Assistant Professor and Alexandra Grange Hawkins Lecturer at the Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research. Dr. Shapiro's teaching, clinical work, and research have focused on the translation of developmental theory to practice with special populations of children and families. A particular focus of her work is social and emotional development in infancy and early childhood, with special emphasis on relational development in atypical populations.
Isabel H. Paret, PhD, is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, UMDNJ, and supervises at the Graduate School of Applied Professional Psychology, Rutgers University. Dr. Paret is a member of the executive council of the Association for Child Psychoanalysis, Inc., and a board member of the New Jersey Association for Infant Mental Health. She is in private practice in Princeton, New Jersey, and has published in the clinical literature.
Review :
"This is a superb book--carefully organized, theoretically sophisticated, and clinically wise. It offers an in-depth biopsychosocial perspective on the complicated world of complex adoption and new reproductive technologies. Clearly written and widely accessible, it is 'must' reading for practitioners, teachers, and others who work in the field or whose lives are affected by these remarkable new developments." --Gerald Schamess, MSS, Smith College School for Social Work
"A superb contribution. I hear the wonderful voice of Selma Freiberg in the lucid, jargon-free style of these scholarly clinicians. The volume provides in-depth, useful knowledge about adoption and new reproductive technologies in the new millennium. It is thoroughly documented by clinical observations that are connected with a systematic review of the literature. In a practical and highly readable manner, the book describes how clinical care and policy planning can keep pace with the changing structure and function of the family in the United States." --Albert J. Solnit, MD, Sterling Professor Emeritus, Pediatrics and Psychiatry; Senior Research Scientist, Yale Child Study Center
"In a well-integrated and articulate presentation, this book examines the unique family narratives of families formed through nontraditional means. The work will help practitioners guide parents towards a healthy attachment with their child and towards meeting the changing developmental needs of the child and family. I highly recommend this volume not only to clinicians but also to child welfare workers, physicians, lawyers, teachers, and others working with families formed through complex adoption or assisted reproductive technology. It will also be a valuable addition to graduate courses in clinical social work and psychology." --Elaine Herzog, EdD, Clinician Administrator, Child and Adolescent Services, University Behavioral HealthCare, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey
