ABSTRACT

Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times draws together contributions from all those with an interest in adoption: adopted people; birth parents and adoptive parents; practitioners and managers in the statutory and voluntary sectors; academics and policy makers. Chapters on research and policy are interspersed with those from people with first-hand experience of being adopted, becoming an adoptive parent or giving a child up for adoption. Together, they provide unique insights into a subject that although regularly in the media is often surrounded by prejudice and misconception. Topics covered include:

* children and young people in care
* trying to adopt
* waiting for adoption
* life after adoption
* the politics of adoption.

This accessible text offers a comprehensive view of adoption policy, practice and services and analyses why adoption has become so controversial. It provides professional and general reader alike with a fully rounded picture of adoption and exposes some of the myths surrounding it.

chapter |14 pages

INTRODUCTION

part |2 pages

Part I CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE IN CARE

chapter |8 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 1|7 pages

ADOPTION’S RICH TAPESTRY UNFOLDED

A family life in the 21st century

chapter 5|5 pages

GOOD PRACTICE IN ADOPTION

chapter 6|3 pages

KINSHIP CARE

A child in the family

chapter 8|3 pages

‘I’LL TAKE HER IN’

part |2 pages

PA RT I I The experience of birth parents

chapter |7 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 10|4 pages

LOST AND FOUND

An adopted person’s story

chapter 11|8 pages

LETTER TO A SOCIAL WORKER

Reflections on mothering

chapter 12|8 pages

ADOPTION AND FAMILY SUPPORT

Two means in pursuit of the same end

part |2 pages

PA RT III Life after adoption

chapter |5 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 13|6 pages

ADOPTION

Perspectives from family members

chapter 14|7 pages

A TRUER IMAGE

chapter 15|5 pages

AVOIDING DISRUPTION

Concurrent planning

chapter 17|8 pages

TALKING AND TELLING

chapter 18|11 pages

KEEPING IN TOUCH

A different way of looking at post-adoption contact issues

chapter 19|5 pages

WITH LOVE

part |2 pages

Part IV THE POLITICS OF ADOPTION

chapter |7 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 20|7 pages

The fiction of permanence

chapter 21|7 pages

ADOPTION FROM THE INSIDE

chapter 23|7 pages

FROM CHINA WITH LOVE

chapter 25|6 pages

ADOPTION PANELS

A critique from within

chapter 26|7 pages

ADOPTION, RACE AND IDENTITY

part |2 pages

Part V THE FUTURE OF ADOPTION

chapter |9 pages

INTRODUCTION

chapter 27|7 pages

HOME NEWS AND ABROAD

Comparing UK trends elsewhere

chapter 29|6 pages

A special focus: the view from the voluntary sector

The views from the voluntary sector

chapter 30|5 pages

ADOPTION IN NEW ZEALAND

An international perspective

chapter 31|6 pages

ADOPTION IS ABOUT PEOPLE

Learning the lessons of experience