Synopses & Reviews
This study, done over a four-year period, focuses on children who are older than infants when placed for adoption, children who are members of a sibling group, and children with physical, emotional, or behavioral difficulties. There are an estimated 35,000 such children each year who need assistance in placement. The book explores issues of separation from siblings, adoption experiences of children who had been physically or sexually abused, and social support. The purpose of this book is to provide empirically grounded knowledge and information that will help social workers practice more effectively with special needs placements.
Review
One of the strengths of the book is the quantitative comparisons Groze presents between the children in his sample and two other groups, children from clinical and nonclinical samples.American Journal of Sociology
Review
What kinds of families adopt other people's children? What are their experiences in parenting children who may have been traumatized by earlier abuse and neglect? How well do these adoptions work out? This book discusses the design and results of a four-year longitudinal study of 199 such families... Overall, Groze found the families to be functioning well and satisfied with the adoption...Groze recommends ways to improve outcomes for families who adopt children with special needs by enhancing the community and the service system, as well as increasing the parents' adaptive skills and the children's positive attachments to their families...Highly recommended for policy makers, scholars, and practitioners.Choice
Synopsis
One of the first longitudinal adoption studies of placement of special needs children.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [143]-157) and index.
Table of Contents
Foreword by James A. Rosenthal
Preface
The Study in Context
The Research Study
The Families and Children at a Glance and over Time
Siblings Placed Together and Apart
Physically and Sexually Abused Adoptees
Social Support and the Adoptive Family
Integration of Findings with Conceptual Model and Implications
The Future of Adoption
References
Index