EDITORIAL

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the results of an exploratory study that examined the preparation of children for adoption from the perspective of 55 adoptive parents and 26 caseworkers. Results indicate little consistency in practice and highlight the pivotal role of the adoptive parent. From the caseworker perspective, preparation for adoption is often seen as a process that ends at placement with the adoptive family. Adoption issues often arise at developmentally significant times in a child's life and adoptive parents may need to continue working with the child, building on the foundation of preparation work done by the child's caseworker or therapist. If the preparation work is insufficient or ineffective, adoptive parents may face greater challenges as they help the child resolve issues related to their past, present and future.     

Ethical Adoption Practice

Abstract

Dr. Paul Denhalter completed his doctoral candidacy research on adoptive family attachment and entitlement. Nineteen parents were interviewed about what elements of adoptive family life contributed to a sense of entitlement. The act of care giving increased entitlement; negative comments from others about adoption tended to decrease it. In his social work practice, Dr. Denhalter counseled adoptive and birth families and advocated education, counseling and support for successful open adoption relationships. His positive perspective on adoption included his father's adoption at age five. Dr. Denhalter was critical of the current trends in adoption that have pathologized adoption for political purposes. He emphasized the results of the Search Institute's study that had positive conclusions about adopted children as well as a blueprint for successful adoptive families to follow.     

Ministers' Perceptions of Foster Care,Adoptions, and the Role of the Black Church

ABSTRACT

Results from survey research of 51 Black ministers indicate that the Black church is potentially an untapped resource for the placement of African American children in permanent homes. The study population indicated knowledge of the need for African American foster care and adoptive families but did not include this need as part of the focus of work for their respective churches. Implications for additional research are highlighted.     

MEDIA REVIEWS

Abstract

This article looks at print coverage of various adoption issues: adoption vs. abortion, a famous birth mother's story, revisiting Baby Richard, and the perils of internation adoption. Two prime time programs are reviewed, one drama on foster care and open adoption, the other a newsmagazine segment on failure to disclose medical problems in adopted children.     

Observing Different Faiths,Learning About Ourselves: Practice with Inter-married Muslims and Christians

Abstract

Advanced care planning and end-of-life decision making are part of contemporary debates about death and dying. A data-mining study reviewing medical records of patient deaths in hospital investigated these issues and the utilisation of social work services. Findings indicated that the majority of records included some form of documentation about end-of-life care, including cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) orders and that family members and surrogate decision makers were more likely to be consulted than patients about these plans. The incidence of referrals to social workers was found to be highest “out-of-hours”. Key social work interventions were identified, including establishing the reliability of surrogates' decisions through social work assessment. This paper discusses elements that contribute to a supportive environment for patients and family members to facilitate the decision making process, including the need for a broader ethical discourse to accommodate the increasing complexity of end-of-life decision making in hospital settings.     

The Value of Adoption

ABSTRACT

Recent work shows that the governmental cost of adoption is about half the cost of long-term foster care for children whose birth parents' rights have been terminated. Because adoption is also associated with greater accumulation of human and social capital, the total savings to government in areas such as special education and criminal justice is of the same magnitude as the child welfare savings. The private benefit to adopted children in terms of additional income earned over their working lives is similarly large. In all, a dollar spent on the adoption of a child from foster care yields about three dollars in benefits.     

Conceptions of Family and Adoption Among Older Adoptees

ABSTRACT

Research on older child adoptions that incorporates the adoptee's perspective is noticeably absent from the literature. Drawing on the theoretical, clinical and empirical literature on children's understanding of family and adoption, this paper reports a study that examined older adoptees' conceptions of family and adoption relative to nonadopted peers. Interviews with 15 children adopted between ages 8 and 11 and a sample of 15 demographically matched nonadopted children (47% male; 84% Caucasian, 13% African American, 3% Biracial Asian/American) provided data that were analyzed for differences in children's understanding and elaboration of family and adoption concepts. Although no group differences were found in children's basic understanding of family or adoption, differences emerged in children's ratings of the acceptability and typicality of family constellations, as well as in the nature of concept elaboration. Older adoptees were more likely to accept and view as typical nontraditional family constellations. Whereas nonadopted children relied more on biological themes, older adoptees' concept elaboration was qualitatively richer, reflecting their varied birth family and foster care experiences. Within-group comparisons among older adoptees revealed differences: Children with more experience in foster care and children who lived in the adoptive home longer displayed higher levels of family understanding and a more realistic perspective of the permanence of the placement. Implications for future research and adoption service delivery are discussed.     

The Impact of Adoption on the New Parents' Marriage

ABSTRACT

This literature review examines the effect of adoption on the new parents' marriage. There are many factors in common with the transition to biological parenthood. A general decline in marital satisfaction is related to the partners' ability to balance marital and parental roles, to expectations about the division of housework and child care, and to time demands. Adoptive parents' marriages are also affected by infertility and its investigation. Adoption, especially of older children, adds further strains, including differing responses to the child's acting-out behavior. Social support, including parent relief, can enhance a marriage. The paper also discusses needed research and implications for practice.     

The court,the couple and the consultant: Is there room for a third position?

This paper describes assessment work for the family courts that is informed by psychodynamic understanding of parents who have abused their children. The aim of this work is to increase the Court's understanding of the parents. The author focuses on the role that she and her colleagues adopt, attempting to find a third position to facilitate curiosity and thinking, trying not to become part of a process of apportioning blame.     

Working with neglected children and their families

Child neglect has proved a particularly difficult area for social work to address. In the first part of the paper a number of reasons for this are discussed. We go on to suggest that chronic child neglect characteristically involves the breakdown or absence of a relationship of care. Therefore, the social work response needs to include a focus on the relationship difficulties between parent and child which manifest as either an unwillingness or inability on the part of the primary carer to offer reliable, adequate care, and on broader relationship difficulties within the family. In arguing for an approach that pays attention to the intra-personal and relational dynamics of neglect, we draw specifically on attachment theory and consider how Ainsworth's (1978) typology of attachment patterns can shed light on parenting styles and patterns of family functioning associated with chronic neglect. We use the concept of the 'internal working model' to develop an understanding of the ways in which family members understand and live out their relationships—with each other and with the worker. We conclude by suggesting that this relational approach requires an ability on the part of the social worker to work both with and within relationships, and look at the contribution that a critically informed relationship-based approach can make to work with families where child neglect occurs.     

Open Adoptions of Children From Foster Care in New South Wales Australia: Adoption Process and Post-Adoption Contact

In Australia, adoptions from care are infrequent and mostly conducted in New South Wales (NSW) despite being legislated in other states. This qualitative study explored the experiences of the adoption process and post-adoption contact of eight foster parents adopting children in their care through the public welfare agency in NSW. The interviews were analyzed following a structured approach, by means of thematic networks. The study revealed that adoption processes and maintenance of birth family relationships depend on a number of factors (e.g., the behavior of the professionals, adoptive and birth parents, children's reactions, policy and practice contexts). However, the adoptive parents' experience of the adoption process was largely determined by the system, and in most cases this appeared to subsequently influence post-adoption connection in the families. The findings and the adoptive parents' recommendations are likely to apply beyond specific geographical jurisdictions. In addition, the reported complexities regarding connections through open adoptions at times resemble those tensions faced by children living in other family types such as those referred to in the foster care literature. Further research on some of these commonalities may expand in some countries the debate regarding adoption as an inherently contestable practice.     

'He's not my carer—he's my husband': Personal and policy constructions of care in mental health

This paper is based on empirical research into the skill needs of care managers and examines the legacy of care management and the effect that 'new managerialist' approaches have had on care management work. The concept of emotional labour is used in context and applied to the work of care managers where the ultimate aim is quality outcomes for users of services. The paper argues that recognising the validity of the concept of emotional labour in context relates to the need for a greater acknowledgement of the skills required by care managers. 'Soft skills' that involve improving own learning and performance through reflection, problem solving and working with others are the key skills required for complex care management work. A rationale is made for reconsidering competency approaches to training in favour of continuing professional development. A preferred approach is one that emphasises both the personal and professional aspects of learning and the social world of the learner.     

Legal Parenthood and Continued Parent-Child Relationships—The Moral and Experiential Aspects of Parenting

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a construct of parenting which provides criteria for differential solutions in cases of child protection, i.e., confidential adoption, adoption with contact and out-of-home placements. It is proposed that the moral aspect of parenting be central in judicial proceedings regarding the protection of the child. In addition a distinction between the moral and the experiential aspect of parenting should be made. The presentation of this construct is based on the author's assessments of parents when acting as an expert witness to the court (in Israel), in three cases in which compulsory adoption was petitioned by the state. The assessment of the moral aspect of parenting is based on the parent's own evaluation of his/her own parenthood, and the assessment of the experiential aspect is based on the parent-child relationships with a particular emphasis -on the child's responses to the parent. This construct may allow experts to tread the fine line between assessing parents and accusing them and provides a base for negotiation between parents' conceptions of their parenthood and the court's.     

Caucasian Parents and Korean Adoptees

Abstract

This study explored the transracial adoption experiences of Caucasian parents who adopted children from Korea. Self-report data from parents of 117 adoptive families were used to compare mothers and fathers' perceptions in three key areas: parent reasons for adopting, family adjustment related to the adoption, and racial identity of adoptees. On the topic of adoptee's racial identity, parents' perceptions were compared over a seven-year period. Overall, mothers and fathers' perceptions were more similar than different, and parents appear to downplay their Korean children's race. The findings have implications for post-adoption training for transracial adoptive families.     

Extending and Broadening Blumer's Conceptualization of Fashion: Adding Notions of Generic Social Process and Semiotic Transformation

Abstract

Herbert Blumer's critics and followers have, for the most part, neglected the significance of his theory of fashion. In this paper I revisit Blumer's thesis on fashion by identifying the fashion process as an instance of the generic social process of semiotic transformation. The concept of semiotic transformation refers to the change in meanings of symbolic objects over time. By identifying six elements of the generic social process of semiotic transformation (systemic permeability, systemic freedom, logonomic fluidity, logonomic openness, indeterminacy, and logonomic hegemony) and by viewing semiotic transformation as a joint act grounded in emergence, I argue that the meaning of change over time is a process structuring both the definition of the situation and symbolic objects. I conclude the paper with a set of reflections on the significance of Blumer's work on fashion for the development of a research agenda of semiotic transformation and for the legacy and reception of Blumerian theory.     

Managing the process of change in residential child care: A consultancy approach

This article explores the impact of a consultancy undertaken with groups of residential child care staff within a large local authority who were experiencing considerable changes in their working environment as a result of a review of residential care structures. The authors were invited to engage directly with staff on an individual and group basis to help them work through the barriers they perceived to changing their approach to practice. The theoretical underpinning for the work was Charles Handy's [1993, Understanding Organisations (Harmondsworth, Penguin)] belief that change is more likely to have a positive outcome when staff have an investment in and contribution to the change processes. The model of change utilised within the sessions with staff was Kurt Lewin's three stages of 'unfreezing', 'change' and 'refreezing'. The consultancy raised a number of issues about the process of change and how this can be achieved within the residential child care context. In particular, it highlighted the problems of assuming that change is a linear process which can be directly controlled and managed in the flux and uncertainty which characterises this sector.     

Realising children's agency in research: Partners and participants?

This paper seeks to contribute to debates within the 'new' sociology of childhood by focusing on issues of structure and agency in the research process. Drawing on a detailed qualitative study of children's paid work and employment, funded as part of the ESRC 'Children 5-16: growing into the 21st Century' initiative, the discussion examines the extent to which it is possible to design and conduct research on and for children, where children are participants in the research process. The paper suggests that despite the best intentions of researchers, the structure and organization of research inevitably reduces children to the status of at best, participants rather than partners and at worst objects of the researchers gaze. The reasons for this relate to issues of methodology rather than method in that what counts as acceptable academic knowledge is defined in relatively narrow and conservative terms by academics who are invariably adults and to children's lack of research or academic capital.     

Mental health service utilization in children adopted from US foster care,US private agencies and foreign countries: Data from the 2007 National Survey of Adoption Parents (NSAP)

Aims

In this analysis, we (1) described the rate of mental health service utilization for children from domestic foster care adoption, domestic private adoption, and international adoption and (2) analyzed the effect of common risk factors on mental health service utilization.

Data

As part of the 2007 National Survey on Adoptive Parents (NSAP), parents with children 5–17 years old (N = 1722) were asked if their children had received mental health services and how helpful these services were. Parents also provided data on the children's demographics and likelihood of pre-adoption adversity (e.g., abuse).

Results

For boys, mental health services were utilized by 52.4% of domestic foster care adoptees, 41.0% domestic private adoptees, and 40.0% of international adoptees. For girls, the corresponding rates were 36.3%, 24.8%, and 30.9% respectively. Parents reported that the services were very helpful for about half of the children. Logistic regression analyses showed that adoptees from domestic foster care were more likely than international adoptees to have received mental health services, but there was no difference between domestic private adoptees and international adoptees. Older age at placement, older age at assessment, having special health care needs, and being male all increased the odds for having received mental health services.     

Power at work: reflections on the research process

Reflecting on a research project on workplace learning amongst low-grade staff in the public sector, this paper identifies a number of key issues arising from the research process. The theme which runs throughout the paper is a concern with the nature of power, both in the workplace and in the research process. The research itself focused on a relatively powerless section of the workforce. The process of securing access contributed to the research team's understanding of power relations in the work place and to consideration of the nature of the relationship between the researcher and the researched. The paper identifies a range of sources of power and concludes that researchers must use an understanding of the research process as a part of the findings, not merely a route to findings.     

Being a man in long term care

PurposeMen tend to represent a distinct minority in long term care (LTC) facilities. Here we explore men's seldom examined experience in LTC.Design and methodsAs part of a major study of Bereavement in Long Term Care, we focus on 21 men who live in five LTC facilities (assisted living facilities and nursing homes). Transcribed qualitative, in-person interviews are examined using standard qualitative analytic methods.ResultsThrough multiple rounds of coding three inter-related themes emerged as salient. (1) Men's work experience as central to their sense of identity. (2) The presence of a wife often is associated with men's sense of couplehood and of feeling protective. (3) Men often regulate their relationships with other LTC residents.ImplicationsDiscussion examines how these three themes are related to men's maintenance of a masculine role in LTC.