Ambiguous Loss in Adoption: Two Types.

While adoption offers a permanent family, the child still may hang on to the hope of returning to their birth family, especially if they are separated from siblings. This can come with ambiguous loss,
What is the definition of ambiguous loss?
Two types: physical absence coupled with psychological presence and physical presence coupled with psychological absence. Examples of physical absence with psychological presence include divorce, parent incarceration, soldiers missing in action, foster care and adoption. In these examples, the “lost” person is not present on a day-to-day basis, but the person suffering from ambiguous loss is thinking about and grieving for that person on a regular basis. Examples of physical presence with psychological absence include relationships with persons with mental health and chemical dependency issues. The “lost” person is physically available but is not emotionally or psychologically available to others in their lives.
For children placed in foster care, this type of loss tends to happen over and over again, and is incredibly hard to process. To help children better manage these repeated traumas, foster and adoptive parents, as well as child welfare workers, must be sensitive to the role ambiguous loss plays in foster and adopted children’s behavior.
Adoption Competent Therapist Directory:
adoptionsuppor...
Books:
Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief - Pauline Boss
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Resources:
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www.ambiguousl...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.n...