The Dynamics of Adoption: Social and Personal Perspectives

Documenting experiences representative of all those involved in the adoption process - adoptee, adoptive and birth parent and professional, and informed by psychoanalytic and social and cultural theory perspectives, this important addition to the literature on adoption highlights a new dimension in social policy, welfare work and personal accounts in this field.

The Dynamics of Adoption shows that fantasy and emotion are integral parts of the experience and affect the nature of thought itself. Applying this to the complexity of the adoption experience, it combines personal accounts with chapters by professionals. The personal accounts present detailed reflection on the feelings expressed, shedding new light on the problems of loss, feelings of abandonment and the dynamics of attachment. Using a more conceptual and clinical framework the viewpoints of the professionals are also used to explore the feelings and fantasies of the families involved producing new insight into the vexed dynamics involved in adoption.

This book will enable practitioners, policy makers and families themselves to appreciate the many layers of the difficult process of adoption, and to apply this understanding creatively to their own decisions and experiences.

Ilan Katz is Head of the NSPCC Practice Development Unit. His main research interests are child protection, identity and the sociology of childhood.