The birth of an adoptive, foster or stepmother : beyond biological mothering attachments / Barbara Waterman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Waterman, Barbara.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Adoptive parents.

Foster mothers.

Motherhood.

Stepmothers.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (258 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Jessica Kingsley, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Adoptive, foster and stepmothers, like biological mothers, find their lives completely changed by motherhood although they are not always granted the rights and privileges accorded to those who give birth. Barbara Waterman explores the common experiences that are shared by all those who enter the motherhood portal.

Contents:

The Birth of an Adoptive, Foster or Stepmother; Acknowledgments; Contents; 1 When the Child is Delivered to You Rather Than You Delivering the Child; Conceiving this book; Changing demographics; Making it through the night; Mothering vs. fathering behaviors; The other mother; 2 Cracked Wide Open; Need for ritual; Chance or choice: women who don't have their own children; Resolving the loss; 3 Longing and Belonging; Primary maternal preoccupation and containment; Adoption and belonging; Attachment and fostering; Projective identification and the stepmother; Conclusion

4 Holding the Mirror, Holding Up the IdealMirroring and other building blocks for the self; When parental resources for self-building blocks are lacking; Culture and belonging; Self-building supplies and development; 5 Love and Difference; Mutual recognition and creative destruction; Confusing creative destruction with failures in mothering; Child omnipotence and parental abdication; The life-growth theme and moral development; 6 The Supporting Matrix; Adoptive, foster and stepmother invisibility; Everyone deserves a doula; Having an affirming matrix to bear witness

Support the mother, heal the childInstitutional support for foster, adoptive and stepmothers; Finding support within the new extended family; 7 Becoming a Mother; Mothering and identity; Instant and disorderly gestation through adoption; Mothering: entering adulthood; Gathering one's mothering legacy; Transcending one's mothering legacy; Obstacles to stepmothering; Conclusion; 8 Mothering as a Spiritual Commitment; The spiritual call to illuminate the way of the next generation; Ana : spiritual and personal sources of mothering; 9 Conclusion; The modern orphan

Multiple parents: primary attachmentsBibliography; Subject Index; Name Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-283-90471-3

1-4175-0131-6

1-84642-425-9

OCLC:

54768161