Suchergebnisse

Why do parents stop having contact with their children after separation and divorce? This book explores what the loss of contact means to parents as well as to their children. It also discusses the emotional, legal and public policy issues involved for divorced parents and their children

The Beatles' 2021 documentary, "Get Back," provides a unique lens into the intersection of family systems and adult relationships of the most important pop group in history. In 1969, 16 months after the death of their manager and father-figure, Brian Epstein, the Beatles gather to make a film about making an album. Three of the Beatles had been making music together for more than 10 years at this point and had become a second family to each other while carrying their family-of-origin history with them. They have grown up together, married and partnered, and are wondering whether to stay together as a group. I view them as siblings who are struggling with the typical characteristics of such relationships that are often marked by affection, ambivalence, and ambiguity. Implications for social work practice with families and siblings are included.

Ambiguous reunification is suggested as a new way to conceptualize the process that families go through after lengthy separations. Using Pauline Boss's work on ambiguous loss, a revision of her framework is applied to families in which a child has been abducted. Practice implications for work with these families, as well as other families experiencing separation, are included.

Little longitudinal data are available on what happens to families in which there has been a parental abduction. This article reports on information on 48 families who have been followed for a number of years after the recovery of a missing child. It focuses on questions relevant to the courts: the use of mediation services preabduction, contact between the abductor and the children and the abductor and the searching parent, the payment of child support and restitution for the search, the legal ramifications to the abductor, and the preparations parents took to prevent another abduction.

Mothers who live apart from their children are often mistreated and misunderstood. Clinicians are increasingly called upon to treat this growing population. The author describes some of the key issues facing these mothers: money and child support, visitation, relations with the father, relations with the child, court involvement, and the impact of the social system. Suggestions for assisting them in a therapeutic relationship are offered.

Abducting parents sometimes justify their actions as a form of ego defense. This brief report discusses observations that may be helpful to practitioners involved in resolving custody and visitation disputes following parental abduction.