Description

“All families, no matter how they are brought together, struggle against enormous odds to thrive. However, for adoptive families, where the history is not a shared one, the rites and traditions commonly relied upon to negotiate transitions and to withstand internal or external stressors do not exist. This is where Creating Ceremonies: Innovative Ways to Meet Adoption Challenges comes in.

The authors, a single mother with two adopted children and a social worker specializing in adoption, have joined forces to create a rich and vital resource to help adoptive families better cope with the day-to-day changes and challenges of life together. Carefully written to reach out to the range of families–two-parent, single-parent, foster-parent, as well as families with gay or lesbian parents and those of multiracial, multiethnic, or multicultural origin–the ceremonies presented here cover the spectrum of life-cycle phases, from pre-adoptive to moving in, from adjustment to reinforcement and beyond.

Among the ceremonies:

• “Forever Family”
• “Getting Ready for a New Person in the Family”
• “End of the School Year”
• “There Is a Place for Both of Us”
• “Rejection and Abandonment”
• “Monsters and Nightmares”
• “The Day We Met”
• “You Are Safe Here”

Used verbatim or customized to address a similar situation or a specific interactive style, the scripts will help family members move toward fresh, energized perspectives. They can be used again and again to provide short-term resolutions to particular problems and to reflect a long-term commitment to the family’s well-being.

An appropriate way to say “welcome home” — or to say “goodbye.” A means to express painful feelings. A bridge between differing perspectives. A helping hand to a youngster in trouble. A commitment to hope. Another milestone. For the professionals who work with adoptive families – for the families themselves – Creating Ceremonies extends and enriches the vocabulary of caring.”

Author: Cheryl A. Lieberman, Rhea K. Bufferd
ISBN: 2259
Count: 1