Adoptive parenting: It is not the same

Reviews the book, Working With Adoptive Parents: Research, Theory, and Therapeutic Interventions edited by Virginia M. Brabender and April E. Fallon (see record 2013-21144-000). Often adoptive parents, families, and friends are taken by surprise and unprepared for handling new roles that they never anticipated. This book offers needed resources and will help therapists assist these families in managing an assortment of demands while formulating a personal perception of their new world. The book is typical in that it places emphasis primarily on the mother–child relationship, with minimal attention to fathers. Although one chapter is dedicated to the adoptive father, it offers limited assistance to professionals who work with adoptive fathers. The reviewer's only concern with the book is its rigid adherence to a psychoanalytic model, with little tolerance for other theoretical interpretations. The book may be disappointing for professionals whose practices are based on other well-known and accepted theories. With its scholarly presentation, the book may appeal more to academicians, researchers, and psychoanalysts than to other types of therapists and most parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)