Psychological Issues in Adoption Research and Practice

Subjects:

• Psychology » Psychology (General)
• Psychology » Developmental Psychology

Awards:

• CHOICE Outstanding Academic Titles, 2006

Reviews:

• Brodzinsky and Palacios's new edited volume picks up from the first author's earlier and important similar volume (The Psychology of Adoption, coed. with Marshall Schechter, 1990), which detailed the important changes occurring in child adoptions and reviewed their theoretical and practical significances. What gives the current volume special value is its cross-national focus, bringing contributions of leading researchers from the Netherlands, Spain, and Scandinavia together with those of outstanding North American adoption researchers. Like its predecessor, the current volume brings to one central place a huge amount of valuable information on adoptive adjustments and their transformations; changing adoption trends; transracial and transcultural adoptions; adoptions of older, disabled children; adoptions by single parents; gay and lesbian adoptive parents; open adoptions; the impact of adverse preadoption experiences; emotional bonding issues; and others. Anyone doing research on adoptions will want to have this volume, which saves the time and trouble of scouring through countless journal articles and governmental reports....Essential. All levels/libraries.
  —Choice March 2006
• [A] wonderful tool for experienced clinical professionals to use to "bring themselves up to date" on adoption research over the last two decades and to give social work students, new professionals, and advocates easy access to that same important information....Reading research can be dry, and well, boring! Very little about this book was boring. It was, instead, invigorating to think about the future of adoption and changes in our work with adoptive families. I consider this a must-read.
  —Adoption Quarterly 2005
• In this collection of 12 articles, experts in the field describe current policy and practice as well as their research in the complex psychological issues for all parties concerned.
  —Reference & Research Book News August 2005

Table of Contents:

• Contemporary Adoption in the United States: Implications for the Next Wave of Adoption Theory, Research and Practice by D. Brooks, C. Simmel, L. Wind and R. P. Barth
• Changing Attitudes of Adoptive Parents in Northern European Countries by R. Hoksbergen and J. T. Laak
• Prenatal and Postnatal Risks to Neurobiological Development in Internationally Adopted Children by M. R. Gunnar and D. A. Kertes
• Adverse Preadoption Experiences and Psychological Outcomes by M. Rutter
• Change and Continuity in Mental Representations of Attachment After Adoption by J. Hodges, M. Steele, J. Kaniuk, S. Hillman and K. Henderson
• Beyond Adopted/Non-Adopted Comparisons by J. Palacios and Y. Sanchez-Sandoval
• Reconceptualizing Openness in Adoption: Implications for Theory, Research, and Practice by D. Brodzinsky
• Openness in Adoption: Outcomes for Adolescents within Their Adoptive Kinship Networks by H. D. Grotevant, Y. V. Perry and R. G. McRoy
• The Construction of Adoptive Parenthood and Filiation in Italian Families with Adolescents by R. Rosnati
• International Adoptions in Scandinavia: Research Focus and Main Results by M. Dalen
• Methodological Issues in Using Large-Scale Survey Data for Adoption Research by B. C. Miller, X. Fan, and H. D. Grotevant
• Recent Changes and Future Directions for Adoption Research by J. Palacios and D. Brodzinsky