Press Reviews

• Fostering & Adoption

  The Dynamics of Adoption offers new insights to those of us who sometimes wonder why we do what we do and how we might do it better. As is often the case, the most challenging and searching questions come from those people personally involved with adoption. Social work managers, policy makers and politicians would do well to listen.

• International Social Work

  The great value of this book if that it shows a complicated, intricate, and labyrinthine process is adoption - and, importantly, it is a lifelong process... The new found openness about the subject draws to the surface and makes official those dynamics about the adoption triangle which have always been there but which the surgical removal of the child from the birth family did not allow... Perhaps adoption can never for most people - adoptee, adopter or birth parent - be a final solution, however happy the outcome of the child. The respective roles, motivations, losses, fears and gains are well explored in a book which, with its emphasis on the dynamic which permeates the adoption drama, shows why the finality may never be achieved.

• Children & Society

  As a source book for experienced professionals in family placement, and as a resource for education and training purposes it has much thought provoking material to offer. Indeed in a world where simple solutions to complex issues are increasingly not only being sought but proposed, an invaluable strength of this book is that it encourages the reader to address the questions they should be asking themselves about adoption, rather than simply pursuing possible answers.

• Adoption and Fostering

  This book offers new insights to those of us who sometimes wonder why we do what we do and how we might do it better. As it is often the case, the most challenging and searching questions come form those people personally involved in adoption. Social work managers, policy makers and politicians would do well to listen

• Seen and Heard

  In the context in the current interest in adoption, and the liklyhood of new legislation for inter-county adoptions, this book provides a useful background to a complex and emotive topic. There are 14 chapters on various aspect of adoption, some of them drawn from a conference organised by the Centre for Adoption and identity studies (CAIS), the University of East London and the Taviscock Clinic. The contributors are from a range of backgroundsand, from different vantage points, provide understanding about the challenges adoption presents.

• Church Times

  `The Dynamics of Adoption, edited by Amal Treacher and Ilan Katz, ;looks at the feelings and fantasies of those involved in the adoption process: adoptees, adoptives, birth parents, and professionals…'

• Adoption Today

  …it is a book that reflects the complexity of the adoption experience. It offers windows itno the experience of the different actors within the adoption process: the adopted child/adult, the adoptive parent, the birth mother, the social worker, the therapist. The theme running through the whole book is the exploration of identity and sense of self for the adopted person, and the impact of this on adoptive families, professional practice and social policy in the adoption field. … This is a useful book, particularly for social workers who will get a fresh slant on thinking in the adoption field at a number of levels. First, the psychodynamic ideas underlying much of the discussion add an important dimension that is often lacking in adoption research literature. Second, the personal reflective material will help social workers get in touch with the pain, confusion and anger that is also part of the adoption process and experience. Third, changing practice and policy in post-adoption support may stimulate new attitudes and approaches among practitioners and policy makers. Fourth, chapters addressing lesbian and gay issues and the transracial placement debate bring fresh thoughts to the discussion. … Overall, this book is a valuable addition to the literature on adoption in that it attempts to combine policy perspectives with personal material on different aspects of the adoption experience. It is published at an opportune time and will contribute to the rethink taking place in the adoption field stimulated by the recent White Paper.

• Journal of Social Work

  This book's strength lies in its exploration of narrative and fantasy of the adoptee, adopted parent, birth mother and professional worker in adoption.