Synopses & Reviews
Applying Foucauldian methodology, this book explores why the practice of keeping adopted children in touch with their kinship origins is still so questioned in contemporary adoption work.
Synopsis
It is now over 20 years since 'open adoption' was first introduced, but it remains a controversial and contested part of social work practice. This innovative and far ranging book sets out to understand why the practice of keeping adopted children in touch with their kinship origins is still so questioned in contemporary adoption work. Written by an experienced practitioner in the field, this book applies, for the first time, Foucauldian methodology to analyze and understand adoption social work, making it essential reading for a wide audience in the social sciences.
About the Author
SALLY SALESPsychoanalyst in private practice in South East Cornwall and Chair of Training for the Site for Contemporary Psychoanalysis in both London and the South West, UK.She also teaches part-time at the University of East London, UK,on the Psycho-Social Studies degree course. She has worked professionally in the field of adoption for many years as a researcher, consultant and trainer.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
PART I: A GENEALOGY OF ADOPTION
Introducing the Study
Family as Cause and Cure: the Emergence of Adoption
Contested Involvements: Adoption before the Second World War
Differences Denied: the Normalisation of Adoption
Differences and identities: the Making of Modern Adoption
Contested Attachments: the Controversial Emergence of 'Open Adoption'
PART II: THE OPEN ARCHIVE
Introducing the Archive Study
Knowing or Transforming the Self: Tracing Letterbox Contact
Identity through Injury: Unfit Mothers and Direct Contact
Conclusions
Notes
Bibliography