How can future parents best be prepared for parenting? And what kind of support and help can health professionals really give all parents? This book explores the skills that health professionals need in order to support parents' efforts to be "good enough" . It looks at the basic skills of adult education and how these can be applied, and it also takes a practical approach to the realistic support health professionals can give. The book looks not only at the needs of every parent but also of those with particular needs and issues. It asks and attempts to answer: what are the challenges facing parents who adopt a child? How does it feel to have carried, given birth to and parent a child whose genetic material is not your own? What are the most effective ways of communicating with parents who have learning difficulties? How can you help the parent of a child with a disability to celebrate the child rather than focus on the disability? How can women in prison be helped to make the transition to motherhood? Each chapter will include both a theoretical and a practical element. Hugely topical and key area for healthcare currently Based on a "real world" perspective and offers realistic aims Examples of and/or suggestions for good practice Assist readers in acquiring educational skills, which can be used to help parents achieve optimum parenting. Well-known and respected editor and contributors working in this field