Helping birth families - Elsbeth Catherine Neil

Supporting the birth relatives of adopted children is a new area of social work practice and the research published in Helping Birth Families is the first to systematically explore it. A truly innovative study, it allows the voices of birth relatives in compulsory adoption proceedings to be heard and offers implications for practice. Drawn from data collected from eight agencies providing independent support, as well as interviews with 73 birth relatives, it explores and evaluates the support given - or denied - to birth parents of children adopted through the care system.