Miriam Reitz, PhD, LCSW is a family therapist currently in independent practice who has practiced, taught, and supervised in family therapy for many years in the Chicago area. After training as a clinical social worker, she began her career in a child welfare agency that treated children separately from their families. After early, enlightening exposure to systems theory applied to whole families, this became the basis for her work. She later returned to the University of Chicago to earn her doctorate in social work. A study of newly married couples for her dissertation provided research support for the practice model presented in this book.
Kenneth W. Watson, MSW, LCSW, is the Assistant Director of the Chicago Child Care Society. He has been in the field of child welfare for more than 35 years. Currently the Chair of the National Adoption Task Force of the Child Welfare League of America, he serves on the Board of the American Adoption Congress, and is a member of the Editorial Review Board of the journal, Child Welfare. He has held faculty appointments at four schools of social work and is nationally known as a trainer and an author of many articles and monographs on child welfare issues.
..".Overall, the book will be particularly helpful to therapists
whose clients are dealing with adoption-related issues. However,
researchers interested in close relationships might also find this
book useful for its extensive description of the impact of adoption
on family dynamics. I hope that developmental, personality, and
social psychologists, as well as therapists interested in the
family, will see the benefits to be gained from studying adoption
processes in understanding family interactions and personality
development." --Review by Valerian J. Derlega. Extracted from
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY. "ADOPTION AND THE FAMILY SYSTEM is a
landmark publication in the adoption field. Reitz and Watson have
given us a sensitive, thorough, and insightful analysis of the
dynamics of adoption as it is experienced by all members of the
adoption triangle. As a resource for clinicians, this book should
prove to be invaluable. The authors' approach to clinical
assessment and treatment is well grounded in family systems theory.
Intervention strategies are clearly described and supported by
excellent use of case examples. The book fills a glaring gap in the
clinical literature on adoption. It undoubtedly will be well
received by those professionals who work with adoptees, adoptive
parents, and members of birth families. This is a most important
book." --David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D., Rutgers University "This book
is a unique contribution to the literature on adoption and family
therapy. For the first time, family therapists will now understand
how to handle adoption within a family therapy context; and
adoption workers will understand the implications of adoption in
the family system. Never before has there been a volume which
brings together family systems theory and adoption. Especially
helpful are the numerous case examples, useful interventions, and
examples of good practice for working with all members of the
adoption triad and their extended families."
--Dirck Brown, Ed.D., coauthor of CLINICAL PRACTICE IN ADOPTION
..".a first-rate book that provides a sensitive and insightful look
at adoption family dynamics. Undoubtedly, this book will be
well-received by clinicians who work with members of the adoption
community." --David M. Brodzinsky, Ph.D., in The Quarterly ..".an
innovative and creative approach for clinical work with adopted
persons and their adopted families...Reitz and Watson have written
a timely, comprehensive volume...They have made a major
contribution to the adoption and family systems literature.
Clinicians, especially those working in the adoption field, will
benefit by reading this book." --Marvin W. Clifford, B.C.S.W.,
D.S.W., Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal
., ."Overall, the book will be particularly helpful to therapists
whose clients are dealing with adoption-related issues. However,
researchers interested in close relationships might also find this
book useful for its extensive description of the impact of adoption
on family dynamics. I hope that developmental, personality, and
social psychologists, as well as therapists interested in the
family, will see the benefits to be gained from studying adoption
processes in understanding family interactions and personality
development." --Review by Valerian J. Derlega. Extracted from
CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY.
"This book effectively creates a bridge between discourse on family
systems and adoption reform. It also offers a practical and
inclusive framework for enhancing the knowledge and skills of
clinicians working with clients and their families who have been
impacted by adoption."
"This book challenges the myth of adoption as a 'solution' to the
socially linked problems of infertility and unplanned pregnancies.
The authors recognize and address pain and loss as the foundation
on which undergirds adoption."
"The range and breadth of the authors' treatment of the issues is
striking."
., ."this book provides a comprehensive, thoughtful, and inclusive
perspective, blending clinical theory and strategies with enhanced
awareness of the dynamics inherent in adoption experiences. The
authors successfully expand the reader/clinician's understanding
that the impact of adoption is far greater than 'the occasional
person or family seeking help.'" --Journal Marital and Family
Therapy
Offers practical guidance for implementing differential treatment
and effective clinical procedures....Theauthors tranlate complex
theory into useful technique, and use poignant case materials to
further illuminate each topic.' --Adolescence
The authors translate complex theory into useful technique, and use
poignant case materials to further illuminate each topic.' --Family
Therapy
"This book is intended primarily as a guide for clinicians about
clients' and families' problems associated with adoption and the
therapeutic interventions that might be effective. However, the
book also addresses broader themes--such as secrecy, attachment,
and a sense of belonging--that should interest a wider audience of
readers, including developmental, personality, and social
psychologists, as well as researchers interested in studying close
relationships....The book will be particularly helpful to
therapists whose clients are dealing with adoption-related
issues....Researchers interested in close relationships might also
find the book useful for its extensive description of the impact of
adoption on family dynamics." --Contemporary Psychology
"Reitz and Watson's approach is distinctive for its equal
sensitivity to and empathy for all members of the adoption
triad...This book provides theory and intervention strategies that
will guide therapists involved with families touched by adoption.
An extensive bibliography covering both adoption and family systems
as well as a thorough index graces this volume, which is well
written and highly useful." --Hospital and Community Psychiatry
"ADOPTION AND THE FAMILY SYSTEM: STRATEGIES FOR TREATMENT, by
Miriam Reitz and Kenneth W. Watson is a comprehensive examination
of the problems and treatment strategies therapists might encounter
when dealing withbirth parents, adoptees, and adoptive parents at
all stages of the adoption...The book is so thorough and so
insightful that it will be invaluable to therapists dealing with
birth and adoptive families." --Adopted Child
"As noted in the Preface, the literature dealing with either family
therapy or adoption continues to proliferate while the "treatment"
of families involved with adoption remains neglected. Recognizing
the lack of quality research in this area, Reitz and Watson draw
together the limited data that are available and the somewhat
greater number of findings culled from field research to provide a
basis for informed clinical practice with birth and adoptive
families linked in adoption....This highly readable but scholarly
volume links together the basic facets of "the adoption
triangle"--birth parents, adoptive families, and the adoptees--in a
manner which has hitherto been given limited consideration by
writers in this field. While theory is not neglected, there is much
practical guidance to be found in these pages. Both authors are
very well-qualified social workers who have practiced and taught in
the areas of family therapy and child welfare for many years."
--CHILD & FAMILY BEHAVIOR THERAPY
"They (the authors) provide, with admirable detail and specificity,
a coherent conceptual model, assessment foci, and clinical actions.
I also liked that they covered issues that are frequent aspects of
work with adopted clients....a reader familiar with basic family
systems theory will find it easy to use their adaptation of general
principles to the special case of adoption. They present their
approach with confidence and authority, based on their obvious
extensiveclinical experience. The rest of the book delineates the
specifics of the general principles with a refreshing distinctive
style....I think this would be an excellent source book for the
practicing clinician who works a lot with adopted families....A
required reference for agencies serving adoption families and
teenage mothers and fathers." --Journal of Family Psychotherapy
"Miriam Reitz and Kenneth W. Watson have made a valuable
contribution to the literature...Practitioners from a multitude of
disciplines will undoubtedly enjoy the thorough treatment of both
practical and theoretical issues, the jargon-free language, and the
authors' inclusion of developmental sequences experienced by all
parties to the adoption process...The important contribution made
by Reitz and Watson to our understanding of adoption and the family
system is both significant and necessary. Their writings are a
pleasure to read while also providing an education much needed."
--Psychotherapy in Private Practice
"This book represents the first integration of adoption and
family-systems theory, two major domains in social work and the
mental health fields...The major strength of this book is its
dynamic interplay between family-systems theory and
adoption...Though this book is intended for professionals,
nonetheless, adoptive parents, birthparents, and adult adoptees can
clearly benefit from its material. The authors provide numberous
case illustrations from their combined clinical experience, giving
triad members something concrete with which to relate. Parents,
especially, can gain valuable insight into specific problems.
"Adoption and the Family System" is recommended reading for
professionals and other adults interested in improving the quality
of clinical assessment and treatment provided to adoption triad
members and their families. The combining of family-systems theory
and adoption represents a breakthrough in the integration of these
two significant disciplines and is thus a contribution to both."
--OURS magazine of the Adoptive Families of America, Inc.
"In "Adoption and the Family System: Strategies for Treatment,"
Miriam Reitz and Kenneth Watson have delivered a book that a wide
range of practitioners, students, and scholars will find useful.
Practitioners in many fields will find here a fresh point of view
on adoptions. Therapists will find solid explanations for a variety
of adoption-related symptoms and strong suggestions for treatment.
Counselors involved in private or agency adoptions will find food
for thought in considering the long-term emotional health of the
families with whom they work. Social workers in
child-protection-related areas will find new respect and compassion
for parents whose rights are involuntarily terminated by the
courts....I recommend this book highly to all clinicians whose
practice is touched by adoptions and would also suggest it to
adoptive families. It is a book that encourages examination of
one's own attitudes toward adoption." --Social Service Review
 |
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
