Parent perspectives on adoption preparation: Findings from the Modern Adoptive Families project

Preparing prospective adoptive parents for receiving a child into their family is an important task for child and family professionals. This study uses data from the recent Modern Adoptive Families survey to understand parent perspectives on their preparation for adoption. Logistic regression (n = 917) and qualitative thematic analysis of adoptive parents' comments about their adoption preparation were conducted to understand aspects of the preparatory experience that were satisfactory (n = 623) or dissatisfactory (n = 283). Child emotional and behavioral problems significantly predicted parent dissatisfaction with adoption preparation. Major themes for satisfactory aspects of preadoption services included receiving information about adoption in general and, more specifically, about clinical and special populations, and parenting tools and strategies. In addition, parents identified opportunities to connect with others touched by adoption and access to specialized post-adoption services as helpful. Conversely, parents expressed dissatisfaction when information was lacking or withheld, when they had quality concerns with the worker or agency, and when there was a dearth of services and supports following adoption. Implications of these findings include the need for adoption mental health competent training for adoption professionals to better support families preparing for or experiencing adoption.     

Perfect Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Fatherless Families

Abstract

In Discourse on the Origin of Inequality and Emile or On Education, the eighteenth century political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau raises several questions concerning the relationship of men to families. He claims that families in the state of nature lacked fathers and suggests that attaching men to the more primary mother-child unit continues to be a problem in civil society. I argue that Rousseau's model of the sentimental family grew out of his concern with integrating men into families. In comparing Rousseau with two contemporary authors, David Blankenhorn and David Popenoe, I show that both eighteenth- and late-twentieth-century strategies for resolving the problem of fatherless families require a gendered division of labor that preserves and promotes gender inequality. While contemporary advocates of the gender-structured family, such as Blankenhorn and Popenoe, make some concessions to the feminist demand for greater gender equality, they are in truth part of a long tradition that bases its ideal of family on the subordination of women to men.     

Russian Families

Abstract

The Russian Federation (Russia) is the largest country in land mass and its population is seventh in the world. The historical development of the Russian family is connected, first of all, with Russian Orthodoxy. After the October revolt of 1917 socialism began and the bases of the traditional family were abolished. However, since the 1930s the family was still formally recognized as a primary cell of Soviet society. In modern Russia the demographic data show the tendencies of a decrease in the number of concluded marriages and an increase in the number of divorces, one-child and childless families. Nevertheless, according to representative opinion polls, the family is highly valued in Russian society. What modern challenges worry members of Russian strong families the most and how do they manage these challenges? To answer these questions, we have undertaken qualitative sociological research.     

Cults Versus Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Single Parent Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Instant Families:

This study focused on "instant families": i.e., marriages between never married men and divorced women who had at least one pre-adolescent child from a former marriage.¹ Based on in-depth interviews with 16 couples, adjustment to remarriage was found to involve the issue of dependence, independence, and interdependence. Consistent with grounded theory, the findings are presented in 15 propositions which can be utilized as the basic hypotheses for future research on these families.     

Dual-Career Families:

No abstract available for this article.     

Families Who Kill

No abstract available for this article.     

Men in Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Incompletely Fractured Families

The modern family is increasingly isolated and increasingly unstable. As a result, family therapists are faced with a variety of problems in families where the parents have separated or divorced. One previously unrecognised problem occurs when the partners, although separated, covertly remain attached to the old alliance. Frequently a child, by becoming “ill”, remains as a bridge between them to prevent the final disintegration of the marriage bond. Three case histories are provided as an illustration of this phenomenon.     

Families and Cults

No abstract available for this article.     

Banking on Families: How Families Generate and Distribute Social Capital

Before we can determine the relevance of social capital to the sociology of family and kinship, we must fill the gaps in our theoretical knowledge. For example, we still do not know how couples, parents, children, and groups generate, accumulate, manage, and deploy social capital. Neither do we know the consequences of social capital for the welfare of families and their individual members. To investigate these areas, we must replace the makeshift measures currently in use with measures that do not confuse social capital with the presumed consequences of access to same. With this attention to theoretical elaboration and careful measurement, we will discover whether the idea of social capital is fruitful or merely decorative.     

Queer Chicano Families: The Importance of Converging Literature on Queer Families,Chicano Families,and Chicano Queers

Despite growing literature on Latino families and Latino queer identities, there has been relatively little empirical research on Latino same‐sex families. Likewise, emerging empirical research on gay and lesbian couples tends to focus on the experiences of middle‐class, well‐educated, White couples. I argue that combining theoretical and empirical works on sexuality, Chicano studies, and queer studies can assuage this lack of diversity in each body of literature. This work first examines current literature on Latino families, with a focus on Latino familism. This is followed by a brief examination of current literature on queer Chicanos. Lastly, it will discuss queer families and the lack of current literature on Latino same‐sex couples, in order to present a course of action for further research on the intersectional social location of queer Chicano families.     

Single Parent Families:

The purpose of this single parent families bookshelf is to provide potential users with a sampling of recent books that deal with various aspects of single parenting. Books are focused on the time period of 1980 to 1993. Resources include primarily North American and Canadian entries. The titles are presented in the fol- lowing categories: children and one-parent families, cross-cultural references, divorced single parents, ethnicity and single parent fami- lies, frameworks for examining single parent families, never-married biological teen mother headed families, practical guides to single parent family living, single fathers with custody following separa- tion and divorce, and special issues of journals focused on single parent families.     

Immigrant and Migrant Families

No abstract available for this article.     

Drug Addiction and Families

Abstract

Australia is experiencing a period of immense cultural change predicated on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). New devices such as smartphones, tablet computers, and the social iterations of the internet are impacting on communication patterns and contributing to the merging of people's online and offline lives. Using Spanish sociologist Manuel Castells's theory of the Network Society as a theoretical foundation, this issues paper posits that social work must overcome its historical reluctance to embrace ICT if it is to remain relevant in the era of the network society. In particular, we argue that social work professionals need to begin a dialogue with IT developers, social service managers, and funding bodies about the need for practice-led ICT systems. This paper examines the turbulent history social work has had with technological change, and concludes that the adoption of a practice-led approach to ICT use in education, practice, and research provides a strong foundation for reimagining the relationship between social work and ICT.     

Strengths of Remarried Families

This paper focuses on remarried families' perceptions of their family strengths, marital satisfaction and their adjustment to the remarried situation. The sample was composed of both husbands and wives in 80 remarried families where at least one of the marital partners had been previously married. In all cases children were living in the home. Results of the study indicated that although the step-families did not deny they had difficulties and most would like to make some changes in their relationships, their scores on the measurements used in the study were high. Findings are suggestive of the dysfunctionality of continuing to define the remarried family as less desirable than those families who are once-married, for a supportive environment was revealed to be the most important predictor of perceptions of family strength and success among this sample of remarried families.