Imagining the Possible and the Impossible in Family Reunification: An Integrative Framework to Explore Grief in the Context of Child Removals

This chapter provides an integrative theoretical framework whereby imagination can be a scenery for practitioners and researchers to address and assess reunification interventions among parents and children/adolescents. Imagination gives an account of what is perceived as possible or impossible for reunification purposes, and how these possibilities and impossibilities might change through time, as difficult emotions are processed. Our premise is that the bond between a parent and a child/adolescent tends to continue, despite different forms of separation, in the inner life of both. Then, the physical separation between family members is a rupture in the alliance of their relationship, which can likely lead to experiences of grief. This framework brings together notions such as shadow trajectories, dialogical self, ruptures, and transitions from developmental psychology and those of continuing bonds, ruptures, and repairs from psychotherapy. We indicate possible scenarios of further research and practice that humanise the youth and the parents, where evocative practices of imagination allow educators and therapists to explore the needs and wants of their clients or users.