The hole in my heart is closing: Indigenous relative reunification identity verification.

Objective: The current study explored the experience of reunification as place identity verification for Indigenous individuals who were fostered/adopted as youth.

Background: Research on reunification tends to focus on disproportionality in child welfare and the factors associated with reunification. Few studies focus on experiences of reunification among Indigenous individuals including their perceptions and comprehensions about the reunification experience.

I can still hear my baby crying: The ambiguous loss of American Indian/Alaska Native birthmothers.

This study captures the experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native birthmothers who lost a child to adoption and the impact of said loss on their health and wellbeing. Few studies examine the loss experiences of American Indian/Alaska Native birthmothers despite their increased probability to lose a child to foster care and adoption. American Indian/Alaska Native birthmothers are distinct from birthmothers of other races in their experiences of intergenerational and historical child loss, having disproportionately lost their children to systematic practices of child removal via boarding schools, the adoption era, and child welfare.

Abuse after abuse: The recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster care and adoption.

Background: While maltreated children are at risk for recurrent maltreatment, less is known about the maltreatment recurrence of American Indian children in foster and adoptive homes.

Objective: This study examined the recurrent maltreatment of American Indian children in foster and adoptive homes, specifically the physical, emotional, sexual, and spiritual abuse subtypes, as well as poly-victimization of American Indian children in comparison to their White peers.

Participants And Setting: Data originated from the Experiences of Adopted and Fostered Individuals Project.

American Indian and White Adoptees: Are There Mental Health Differences?

Adult adoptees are at increased risk for mental health problems compared to nonadoptees. However, little is known about subsets of adoptees that may be more or less vulnerable to mental health problems. The purpose of this study was to explore the presence of mental health problems of American Indian (AI) persons compared to White persons who were separated from their birth families during childhood by foster care and/or adoption.

Liability of newness: assessing couple social support when starting a new business venture.

Study purpose was to investigate adapted social support instruments of nurturance and affiliation with male and female entrepreneurs and spouses starting a new business. Family Fundamental Interpersonal Relationship Orientation theory was the theoretical grounding. Business structure differed by entrepreneur gender in both direct and indirect spousal involvement.

Uniqueness of family therapists as family business systems consultants: a cross-disciplinary investigation.

The purpose of this study is to address how the consulting approaches of family therapists working with family businesses differ from those of business consultants. The logic of analytic induction was used to analyze qualitative data from family business consultants with and without training in family therapy. Consultants were asked to respond to two vignettes: one emphasized primarily family system problems, whereas the other emphasized business problems with influencing issues at the family/business intersection.