1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910826897003321

Autore

Waterman Barbara

Titolo

The birth of an adoptive, foster or stepmother [[electronic resource] ] : beyond biological mothering attachments / / Barbara Waterman

Pubbl/distr/stampa

London, : Jessica Kingsley, 2003

ISBN

1-283-90471-3

1-4175-0131-6

1-84642-425-9

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (258 p.)

Disciplina

306.8743

Soggetti

Adoptive parents

Foster mothers

Motherhood

Stepmothers

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

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

Sommario/riassunto

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.