Family & Relationships : Adoption

What happens to looked-after children in the longer term? This book analyses the outcomes of a large-scale study of foster children in the UK. It includes individual case studies and draws extensively on the views of foster children themselves. The authors examine: why children remain fostered or move to different settings (adoption, residential care, their own families or independent living); how the children fare in these different settings and why; what the children feel about what happens to them. Other important issues covered include the support given to birth families to enable children to return home, the experience of adopters, the ways in which foster care can become more permanent and the experiences of young people in independent living. In bringing together these results the book provides a wealth of findings, many of them new and challenging. It offers positive and practical recommendations and will be an enduring resource for practitioners, academics, policy makers, trainers, managers and all those concerned with the well-being of looked-after children. more...

Price: $34.95

Using interviews with over sixty fostered adolescents, their social workers and foster carers, Fostering Adolescents builds up a picture of the challenges faced by both carers and the young people themselves, from planning and preparation for a placement to the impact of foster carer strain. It highlights overlooked factors affecting fostering placements, such as the significance of peer relationships and the role of foster carers' children, and considers which supports and services are vital in maintaining placements. Based on the findings of research commissioned by the Department of Health, this book will be essential reading for both social work policy makers and practitioners. Drawing on the first extended study to examine which factors contribute to positive outcomes for adolescent fostering, the authors address the specific parenting skills and training requirements needed by carers, and look at how to help those young people who are hardest to foster. A rich source of recommendations for social workers, policy makers and carers, this book will be invaluable for anyone involved in the fields of child welfare and child protection. more...

Price: $34.95

The number of childless couples adopting children from abroad has risen in the last decade. Inter-Country Adoption offers a fascinating insight into the emotional, financial and legal difficulties that such prospective parents face. more...

Price: $47.95

While clearing through her dead mother's bedroom, Emma happens upon the thirty-year-old newspaper clipping announcing the birth of the baby she gave up for adoption. Now a wife and mother of two teenage children, Emma is transfixed by this reminder and link to her first-born. Vividly recalling the stigma of her schoolgirl pregnancy and the pain of adoption, the story follows Emma's search for and reunion with Oliver and the consequences this has for her family life. This absorbing novel, while dealing with the grief and guilt of adoption, provides hope to all those affected by the adoption process. more...

Price: $24.95

'If you read this book you will discover what to expect if you learn that you cannot have babies the easy way. You will also be helped to face what is often the hardest decision for couples struggling to make babies with medical help: how and when to stop trying. Few books on infertility will have so much impact because few authors have Caroline and Bruce's courage to allow the emotional pain of infertility to transform them and their relationship. Much more than an infertility survival guide, Making Babies the Hard Way tracks a journey which starts and ends with love. It is at once a witness statement and an inspiration.'. - Dame Suzi Leather, Chair, The Charity Commission, UK, and former Chair, Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, UK. How far would you go to have a baby? Making Babies the Hard Way is a frank account of one couple's discovery that they cannot have children of their own, and their ensuing struggle through four years of fertility treatment. One in six couples worldwide seek assistance to conceive and 80 per cent of couples undergoing fertility treatment are currently unsuccessful. Writing with humour and honesty, Caroline Gallup describes the social, emotional, spiritual and physical impact of infertility on her and her husband, Bruce, including feelings of bereavement for the absent child, the unavoidable sense of inadequacy and the day-to-day difficulties of financial pressure. As well as telling her own moving story, she also offers information and guidance for others who are infertile, or who are considering or undergoing treatment. This courageous and poignant book will be of interest to couples who cannot conceive and those who are undergoing treatment, as well as their families and friends. more...

Price: $19.95