Social Workers Look At Adoption

This book is an attempt at understanding the foundations upon which the practice and theory of adoption and substitute care are based. It shows that mainstream thinking about adoption is flawed in a number of ways and uses historical and cross-cultural material to develop an alternative framework for understanding and practice.Much of the material which directly and indirectly relates to and informs the practice and theory of adoption and substitute care is dispersed across a variety of disciplines, including history, anthropology, ethnography, sociology, law, social work and social administration. This work attempts to integrate much of that material in a consistent historical and social theoretical framework.The implications of this study for social and welfare work and policy in the field of adoption and substitute care are profound.The book concludes with a set of recommendations for altering both the substance and form of our practices in the field of substitute care and indeed, of professional education leading to employment in that area.

Originally published in 1993, this classic piece of literature on adoption has revolutionised the way people think about adopted children. Nancy Verrier examines the life-long consequences of the 'primal wound' - the wound that is caused when a child is separated from its mother - for adopted people. Her argument is supported by thorough research in pre- and perinatal psychology, attachment, bonding and the effects of loss.

Based on the author's personal experience as a mother who lost a child through adoption and her experience as a social worker who has worked extensively in the area of post-adoption counselling with adults, this resource graphically describes the disenfranchised grief associated with adoption and suggests ways in which that hidden grief can be acknowledged and confronted.