Foreword

This is a landmark book that should have a global readership. For far too long, adoption and kinship families have not received the attention that they so sorely need. Karen Foli has written a text for which clinicians and academics have long been waiting—it will bring visibility to the welfare of adoption and kinship families. The material in this book is well researched, sensitively delivered, and essential for any clinician attending to adoption and kinship families.

The book acknowledges that the typical family—male and female parents with a boy and girl offspring—no longer reflects our society. Nontraditional families, such as adoptive and kinship families, are well entrenched in our society. In this book, Karen Foli draws clinicians’ attention to the unique, heterogeneous families that have experienced relinquishment and acceptance of parenting by persons who have not given birth to the children and have no direct biological ties. With combined expertise and caring, Dr. Foli presents clinicians with much-needed resources. She carefully addresses the unique challenges of advanced practice nurses who are in a position to support adoptive and kinship families.

This well-researched book systematically focuses on each person involved in adoptive and kinship parenting. First, clinicians learn about the historical, cultural, and legal perspectives. Next, advanced practice nurses learn what is needed to deliver excellent nursing care to the birth parents, the adoptive parents, the child who is adopted, kinship parents, birth parents of kinship children, kinship children, and, lastly, special cases of foster care, assisted reproductive technology, commercial surrogacy, and human trafficking.

This book is not just a scholarly text but also a valuable manual and therefore represents a particular pinnacle of achievement within this field. I have little doubt this book will be read by many advanced practice nurses and other clinicians who will find the information in it extremely valuable and its message inspirational. The book will have an incredible impact on the care delivered by advanced practice nurses to make a significant difference in the lives of adoptive and kinship families. Thank you, Karen Foli, for your enduring passion for improving the lives of these long-forgotten families.

Cheryl Tatano Beck, DNSc, CNM, FAAN

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor

School of Nursing

University of Connecticut

Storrs, Connecticut