Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (3)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by LOGAN, J.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© British Association of Social Workers

Birth Mothers and their Mental Health: Uncharted Territory

JANETTE LOGAN

Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Manchester

Correspondence to Janette Logan, Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of Manchester, Oxford Road, Manchester

Summary

This article reports the findings of a study commissioned by the Mental Health Foundation which examined the experiences and needs of birth mothers who relinquished a child for adoption. Historically, birth mothers have been neglected in the British literature; their experience is considered to have ended at the time of placement. This research however, indicates the long-term implications of relinquishment are severe—particularly in relation to mental health. They demand that the complexity and uniqueness of relinquishment as a form of loss be more fully understood, birth mothers' reactions to those experiences are not pathologized and professionals learn to respond more positively. GP's in particular need to develop a more sensitive understanding of their needs and in so doing could prevent the medicalization of some birth mothers.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Critical Social PolicyHome page
P. M. Garrett
Getting `a grip': New Labour and the reform of the law on child adoption
Critical Social Policy, May 1, 2002; 22(2): 174 - 202.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 J Health PsycholHome page
H. Baslington
The Social Organization of Surrogacy: Relinquishing a Baby and the Role of Payment in the Psychological Detachment Process
J Health Psychol, January 1, 2002; 7(1): 57 - 71.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Clin Child Psychol PsychiatryHome page
M. Ryburn
Contact between Children Placed Away from Home and their Birth Parents: A Reanalysis of the Evidence in Relation to Permanent Placements
Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry, October 1, 1999; 4(4): 505 - 518.
[Abstract] [PDF]


Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.