Ambiguous Reunification: A Way for Social Workers to Conceptualize the Return of Children after Abduction and Other Separations

Abstract

Ambiguous reunification is suggested as a new way to conceptualize the process that families go through after lengthy separations. Using Pauline Boss's work on ambiguous loss, a revision of her framework is applied to families in which a child has been abducted. Practice implications for work with these families, as well as other families experiencing separation, are included.