Joining Families: the adopted child, the internal group, and the process of assimilation
Abstract
In this paper I describe how the inner world of the late-adopted child is peopled with a pre-existing group of birth parents and previous carers. The task of adoptive parents is to assimilate this previously internalised group into the adoptive family. I explore some of the difficulties that can interfere with this assimilation and link it with Oedipal issues and aspects of the Oedipus myth
