- ISBN13: 9780807028278
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
“An important voice in the spirited public debate over what ‘the best interests of the child’ are in the . . . untidy world of adoption.”—Joseph P. Kahn, Boston Globe
Joyce Maguire Pavao understands the many perspectives that come into the complicated process of adoption, and she works to make the process comfortable for all participants. As a pioneering and nationally recognized family and adoption therapist, Pavao argues eloquently in The Famil… More >>
The Family of Adoption: Completely Revised and Updated
I HAVEN’T READ THE BOOK YET BUT HAVE SKIMMED OVER IT. INFORMATION LOOKS TO BE WHAT I WAS LOOKING FOR. SATISFIED WITH PRICE AND PURCHASE.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a MUST READ for truly understanding adoption from the adoptee’s perspective.
I highly recommend this book as it provides so many insightful examples and firsthand stories of how to help love and nuture your adopted child with knowledge of themselves and their birth family. It helps put the child first.
Conventional wisdom of closed adoptions needs to be challenged. How can a person live a rich, full, and productive life with so many unanswered questions?
Let your child be the connection between two families (birth & adoptive), and honor who they are.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is a great resource for adoption members (and anyone else) who want to understand the developmental stages and clinical issues in adoption. Pavao, an adoptee herself, was only told once of her adoption and after that “no one would talk, no one would explain.” She grew up with the poisonous idea that “people who have secrets about them think there’s something wrong with them.” When she met her birthmother, the secrecy continued. No wonder, today, as a “family-system thinker,” Pavao works to change a system that perpetuates secrecy and in so doing The Family of Adoption is meant for everyone in the world of adoption, but with focus on the best interest of the child. Pavao points out that birth and adoptive families are not the only ones responsible for the family of adoption. She deplores the fact that to this day material on adoption in medical school texts are lacking. The nation’s psychiatrists, pediatricians, obstetricians, gynecologists and general practitioners are taught next to nothing about adoption. Law schools, too, neglect to give lawyers and judges a broader framework within which to view adoption and serve each client and case. Social workers too get inadequate training to work with complex families, as do professors in psychology programs. Pavao points out the “sad change of events” today which shows that adoptions in the U.S. are not based on a deliberation about the child’s welfare but on business considerations. Her informative book tries to stir both public and private adoptions in the direction of seeing what placement would be the best for the child, and not best for the family, agency or adoption professional. I heartily recommend this book to the general public.
Gisela Gasper Fitzgerald, author of ADOPTION: An Open, Semi-Open or Closed Practice?
Rating: 5 / 5
This book is a gem. It is full of undersanding, wisdom and compassion for all involved in adoption. It goes beyond generalities and charts the changing needs that birth parents, adoptive parents and adoptees face in the different stages of their lives. I particularly like the way the author identifies the special issues for adoptees and their families as ‘normative crises’ rather than ‘pathologies’. I am buying extra copies for my therapist friends.
Rating: 5 / 5
The book jacket states that Pavao “is the first to demonstrate that there are often predictable and understandable developmental stages and challenges for all adopted people.” Not so. Being Adopted; the Lifelong Search for Self by David Brodzinsky, et. al., is a more comprehensive book on this subject. (It was published in 1992.) Pavao’s book “stops” with young adulthood, while Brodzinsky addresses mid-life and late adulthood. Still, Pavao writes from a slightly different angle. Pavao’s bias is as an adoptee and a champion of adoptees. Her thesis is that adoption is not an isolated incident but a life-long experience– the fact that one has been adopted is bound to affect individuals in significant ways throughout their lives. (Brodzinsky would disagree and ascribes more variety to individuals’ experience of being adopted.) She draws extensively on her experience as an educator and therapist to individuals and families involved in adoption and presents many fascinating case studies. As an adoptive parent myself, if I were to recommend just one of the two books to other adoptive parents (or those considering adoption), I’d choose Brodzinsky’s book. Still, Pavao’s is definitely worth reading. It is readable and passionate and delves into the child welfare aspects of adoption (which Brodzinsky does not do).
Rating: 4 / 5