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Mark and Jan have been together for eight years. Although they have never married, they consider themselves married and never thought it was necessary to have a wedding. They have good relationships with both extended families and have a group of close friends. Both are successful professionals; Mark is an engineer and Jan is an events coordinator.They have come to you (counselor) because they have started having some issues in their relationship that they think are due to the stress of trying to adopt a child. They have had two adoptions fall through in the last three years. The first failed adoption was the most difficult, and the second failed adoption was just a couple of weeks ago. Both people are very disappointed and frustrated with the process. They have noticed a change in their intimacy and their communication and are concerned about their relationship. They seem to be arguing more, and both report feeling very stressed and discouraged but desperately want to be parents. They are committed to their relationship and want to continue to pursue adoption.
Do you see any issues in working with this couple? What other information would you want to know?
Would your reaction and desire to work with this couple be any different if it were Mark and Steve or Jan and Jessica? Imagine that the case study information is the same, but the relationship is homosexual instead of heterosexual.
Please be honest in your response.
300 words or more with scholarly references
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Solution Summary
This sudy discusses counseling couples related to a specific case study.
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(1) Do you see any issues in working with this couple? What other information would you want to know?
There is the active and accepted view of a man and woman wanting to adopt a child. Apart from marriage, the environment of couples involving a man and a woman is deemed more acceptable than same-sex couples to raise a child from society?s standpoint. This perception will undoubtedly affect the decision to grant adoption to same-sex couples. For instance, in addition to the normal problems inherent in the adoption process, both sets of couples may not be prepared for the additional pain associated with adopting a child. For instance, challenges they may face with the adopiton process include: bias, differentiation and stereotyping of same-sex couples.
Sullivan and Harrington (2005) draw attention to several barriers to adoption that may be experienced by same-sex couples that heterosexual coupled do not face including: (a) perceived characteristics of children, (b) perceived characteristics of applicant families, (c) social worker bias, (d) organization barriers, and (e) ...
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