Gay Couples Who Adopt Children Who Have Been Abused: Ideas and Interventions from a Self Psychological Perspective to Facilitate the Adoption Process

Date of Award

Summer 8-25-2012

Document Type

Doctoral Research Paper

Degree Name

Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology

Organizational Unit

Graduate School of Professional Psychology

First Advisor

Michael Karson

Second Advisor

Lynett Henderson Metzger

Third Advisor

Claire Poole

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

All Rights Reserved
All Rights Reserved.

Keywords

Adoption, Children, Qualitative research, Self psychology, Gay couples, Abused children

Abstract

There are currently hundreds of thousands of children in the US foster care system who are all in need of a stable and predictable home with parents on whom they can depend. Recently, there has been an increased interest in adoption from gay couples who want to start a family. Because the majority of children in the foster care system have some sort of abuse or neglect history, a large number of them present with difficulties such as oppositional behavior, mood dysregulation, and other kinds of mental health problems. This paper addresses the unique situation of gay couples who adopt children who have been abused. Kohut's self psychology theory is utilized to help identify strengths and potential problems that could arise from this type of situation. Particular attention is given to the three self-object needs that are central in self psychology: mirroring, idealization, and twinship. Additionally, ideas for interventions are posed for potential adoptive parents and mental health professionals to use to help the adoption process progress more smoothly and to hopefully lead to long-term, healthy placements.

Copyright Date

7-2-2012

Publication Statement

Copyright is held by the author. Permanently suppressed.

Rights Holder

Dorothy Nguyen

Provenance

Received from Author

File Format

application/pdf

Language

English (eng)

Extent

39 pgs

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