Family Studies

Rich with illustrative case material, this book guides mental health professionals to break the cycle of at-risk behavior by engaging adolescents and their families in home, school, and community contexts. The authors explore the multigenerational patterns that shape the lives of poor and ethnic minority adolescents and present innovative strategies for intervening beyond the walls of the agency or clinic. Grounded in research, the book shows how to implement both home-based family therapy and school-based achievement mentoring to provide a comprehensive web of support. Building on the earlier Reaching Out in Family Therapy, this book reflects the ongoing development of the authors' multisystems approach and many other important changes in the field; the majority of the content is completely new. It is an indispensable resource for beginning and experienced professionals or text for courses on adolescent intervention or adolescent mental health.

Expertise can explain the science of what's happening to a fetus or a baby throughout development, but all the science in the world can't tell you what it feels like to have a baby: the pang of morning sickness, the pain of labor, the excitement of birth, and the joy that comes from seeing your baby's first smile. 9 Months In, 9Months Out explores what we actually experience in the nine months of pregnancy and the nine months that follow. As a professor of infant and child development, author Vanessa LoBue had certain expectations about how pregnancy and motherhood would go. Experiencing it was a different story. As she learned, the first few months of parenthood are much harder than anyone tells you. Written month-to-month in real time as LoBue proceeded through pregnancy and first-time parenthood, 9 Months In, 9 Months Out integrates science and infant development with the personal journey involved in becoming a parent. LoBue also takes a researcher's lens to issues that are top of mind for new parents: breastfeeding, the sleep training controversy, gender development, the science (or lack thereof) behind the link between vaccinations and autism, and the debate over screen time.

Every working mother's path is unique and should be celebrated, not lamented. Yet all too frequently, working mothers are presented with advice, rules to follow or guidelines as if all women's experiences are the same and a one-size-fits-all solution is appropriate. Maternal Optimism: Forging Positive Paths through Work and Motherhood aims to provide readers with stories and research that support the notion of women owning and feeling confident in the choices they make, as they navigate a complex series of work and family transitions. This book challenges the impulse to reduce work/life challenges to a single point in time, such as the decision to return to work after the birth of a child; instead, it recognizes that work and family decisions are anything but stagnant. They shift as life and career shift and are often filled with unpredictable events. By understanding and anticipating these shifts, working mothers can develop the resiliency they need at home and at work. This book is a resource for all professional women as they approach the difficulties and the joys of growing a family and a career.

"I yelled at the kids again--and feel so ashamed." "I barely have time to shower, let alone exercise; no wonder I'm so out of shape." "I'm just not the dad I hoped I would be." Parenting is hard. That's why self-compassion is so important. In this empathic resource, mindfulness expert and psychologist Susan M. Pollak helps you let go of constant self-judgment and treat yourself with the same kindness and caring you strive to offer your kids. Simple yet powerful guided meditation techniques (most under three minutes long) are easy to practice while doing the dishes, driving to work, or soothing a fussy baby. Learn to respond to your own imperfections like a supportive friend, not a harsh critic. You will find yourself happier and more energized--and will discover new reserves of patience and appreciation for your kids.

What personal truths reside in biological ties that are absent in adoptive ties? And why do we think adoptive and biological ties are essentially different when it comes to understanding who we are? At a time when interest in DNA and ancestry is exploding, Frances Latchford questions the idea that knowing one's bio-genealogy is integral to personal identity or a sense of family and belonging. Upending our established values and beliefs about what makes a family, Steeped in Blood examines the social and political devaluation of adoptive ties. It takes readers on an intellectual journey through accepted wisdom about adoption, twins, kinship, and incest, and challenges our naturalistic and individualistic assumptions about identity and the biological ties that bind us, sometimes violently, to our families. Latchford exposes how our desire for bio-genealogical knowledge, understood as it is by family and adoption experts, pathologizes adoptees by posing the biological tie as a necessary condition for normal identity formation. Rejecting the idea that a love of the self-same is fundamental to family bonds, her book is a reaction to the wounds families suffer whenever they dare to revel in their difference. A rejoinder to rhetoric that defines adoptees, adoptive kin, and their family intimacies as inferior and inauthentic, Steeped in Blood's view through the lens of critical adoption studies decentres our cultural obsession with the biological family imaginary and makes real the possibility of being family in the absence of blood.