Birth Mothers and their Mental Health: Uncharted Territory

Logan, Janette

doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjsw.a011137

Cited by 31 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…This is a common theme in the literature about a woman's response to child relinquishment (Condon, 1986;DeSimone, 1996;Deykin et al, 1984;Logan, 1996;Rynearson, 1982;Smith, 2006;Wiley & Baden, 2005;Winkler & Van Keppel, 1984).…”

Section: Grief Remains a Common Experiencementioning

confidence: 94%

“…Birth parents, adoptees, and adoptive families have all infl uenced the social and legal aspects of adoption and contributed to more open and respectful practices which honour all members of the adoption triad (Henney, Onken, McRoy, & Grotevant, 1998;Henney, McRoy, Ayers-Lopez, & Grotevant, 2003;Gritter, 1997). Nonetheless, it has been well documented that a woman who places a child for adoption experiences profound grief and loss (Condon, 1986;DeSimone, 1996;Deykin, Campbell & Patti 1984;Logan, 1996;Rynearson, 1982;Smith, 2006;Wiley & Baden 2005;Winkler & Van Keppel, 1984). This descriptive, qualitative study explores current day, birth-mothers' experiences of grief and loss, and movement towards grief resolution in the context of an open adoption.…”

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

“…These have included unresolved, prolonged, unacknowledged, and complicated grief, shame, and guilt; negative self-image; diffi culty in intimate relationships; challenges in parenting subsequent children; fantasies of reunion; anxiety; and trauma (Condon, 1986;DeSimone, 1996;Deykin et al, 1984;Kelly, 2005;Logan, 1996;Rynearson, 1982;Smith, 2006;Wiley & Baden 2005;Winkler & Van Keppel, 1984). This study seeks to learn how birth mothers respond to their loss and how they cope in an open-adoption relationship.…”

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

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Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Krahn¹,

Sullivan²

2015

cswr

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While research has explored birth parent grief and loss, it has not been thorough in exploring how the experience of having an open adoption affects birth parents’ grief and loss experience and resolution. Previous research has highlighted positive effects of open adoptions to date, but is quite limited in regards to the birth parents’ adjustment in current day, open adoptions. This descriptive, qualitative study explores birth parents’ experiences in current day, open adoptions and seeks to understand their experience of grief and loss and their movement towards grief resolution in the context of an open adoption. Findings of this study confirm that the experience of adoption placement involves grief and loss and that openness in adoption helps to mitigate this painful experience. Most notably, birth parents found meaning, comfort, and peace in knowing of their child’s well-being and by having ongoing involvement in the life of the child and adoptive family. This opens new avenues in thinking about adoption and the meanings participants make of it.Même si la recherche s’est penchée sur le deuil et la peine des parents biologiques, elle n’a pas approfondi l’effet d’une adoption ouverte sur leur douleur et leurs façons de composer avec celle-ci. Des recherches ont montré les effets positifs de l’adoption ouverte, mais elles ont peu abordé l’adaptation dont doivent faire preuve les parents biologiques ayant choisi l’adoption ouverte de nos jours. La présente étude descriptive et qualitative explore l’expérience vécue par les parents biologiques et cherche à comprendre leur deuil et leur peine ainsi que leurs façons de les surmonter. Les résultats montrent que la décision de confier un enfant à l’adoption s’accompagne d’un deuil et d’une peine, et qu’une ouverture permet d’atténuer la douleur d’une telle action. En particulier, les parents biologiques ont trouvé un réconfort à être au courant du bien-être de leur enfant et à garder contact avec celui-ci et sa famille adoptive. Cette étude ouvre de nouvelles perspectives au sujet de l’adoption et du sens que les participants lui donnent

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Section: Grief Remains a Common Experiencementioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Domestic Adoption Has Declined Signifi Cantly As Women Havementioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Krahn¹,

Sullivan²

2015

cswr

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“…In this case, we wanted to explore the possibility of measuring the services' influence on key psychological and interpersonal constructs over time. As outlined earlier, recent research suggests that women who have had children removed from their care often suffer a clear downturn in psychological functioning (After Adoption, 2007;Broadhurst & Mason, 2013;Grant et al, 2014;Logan, 1996;Ryan et al, 2008). Given this, we wanted to try to capture any changes in the personal functioning of clients engaging with the two Suffolk services.…”

Section: Clinical Measures Of Personal Changementioning

confidence: 99%

Reducing recurrent care proceedings: initial evidence from new interventions

Cox

Barratt

Blumenfeld

et al. 2017

Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law

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The English family justice system faces a crisis of recurrence. As many as one in four birth mothers involved in public law care proceedings in English family courts are likely to reappear in a subsequent set of proceedings within seven years. These mothers are involved in up to one-third of total care applications, as they are -by definition -linked to more than one child . Few birth mothers experiencing the removal of a child to care are offered any follow-up support, despite often facing multiple challenges including poverty, addiction, domestic violence and mental health problems. Since 2011, however, a number of new services have been established to begin to address their unmet needs. This article summarises the findings of the first academic-led evaluation of two of these initiatives. Presenting evidence from a mixed-methods evaluative study, it concludes that the new services were able to foster relationships that 'worked' in reducing recurrent proceedings. None of the women engaging with the services went on to experience what could be described as a 'rapid repeat pregnancy' within the evaluation window. Just as significantly, a number of clients reported some improvement in their psychological functioning, and the practitioners involved reported positively on their experience of delivering and managing innovative services. The article closes with a discussion of the challenges of evaluating personalised, strengths based interventions and the possibilities of evidencing empowerment in these cases.

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“…There are also many other studies that might usefully have been examined in a thorough review of the evidence concerning post-placement contact in permanent care (see, for example, Thoburn, Murdoch, & O'Brien, 1986;Barth, 1987;Demick, & Wapner, 1988;Sachdev, 1991;Thoburn, 1990;Poulin, 1992;Demick, 1993;Siegal, 1993;Logan, 1996). These, among others that could be cited, together with the studies noted elsewhere in this article, are either studies of which these authors are unaware, or they do not fit their (largely inexplicit) criteria for inclusion.…”

Section: An Inadequate Account Of the Available Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: A Reanalysis of the Evidence in Relation to Permanent Placements

Ryburn

1999

Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry

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A B S T R A C T This article offers a critique of the work of Quinton, Rushton, Dance and Mayes (1997) concerning the merits, for the various parties, of the maintenance of contact between children living temporarily or permanently apart from their parents. It contests their view that there is no research based evidence to support the practice of maintaining contact in these placements, and suggests that for a number of reasons their analysis of available evidence is fundamentally flawed. In particular this article questions their view of what the foundations for evidence-based practice should be, highlights central omissions in their review of the research and challenges the accuracy of some of their reporting. It also suggests that a grounded historical perspective on post placement practice would regard the severance of birth relative links, rather than their preservation, as representing what Quinton and his colleagues describe in their article as a 'social experiment'.

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Birth Mothers and their Mental Health: Uncharted Territory

Cited by 31 publications

References 15 publications

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Grief & Loss Resolution among Birth Mothers in Open Adoption

Reducing recurrent care proceedings: initial evidence from new interventions

Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: A Reanalysis of the Evidence in Relation to Permanent Placements

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