Elena Canzi

Internationally adopted children’s cognitive and social-emotional development during the first post-adoption year: A longitudinal study

Abstract Research is consistent in showing that international adoption is an intervention leading to great recovery for adopted children, but there is a need of research on factors associated with recovery. The present study is aimed at: (a) assessing children’s cognitive skills and social-emotional dimensions on their arrival to their new family; (b) evaluating their development after one year; (c) identifying which factors influence development, taking into account children’s gender, age, health status on arrival, years of institutionalization, and the initial psychological delay. Participants were 53 internationally adopted children (30 boys and 23 girls), aged 5.68 years old on average at placement (range 2–14). Results showed that children’s development one year after adoption was extraordinary, both in cognitive skills and in social-emotional dimensions. The children more delayed on arrival showed the larger progress over time, and their recovery was greater in cognitive skills than in social-emotional dimensions.

Ethnic Prejudice and Intergroup Contact in Prospective Adoptive Parents

ABSTRACT While ethnic prejudice is considered a key factor in parental cultural socialization strategies, there is nonetheless a lack of research about this topic among prospective transracially adoptive parents and the extent of their contacts with members of minority ethnic groups. Participants in the current study were 175 couples: 102 prospective adoptive parents pursuing international adoption in Italy and 73 couples who at the time of the study neither had children nor were involved in the adoption process. Results showed, first, that prospective adoptive parents reported lower levels of ethnic prejudice and more positive intergroup contacts than the comparison group and, second, that adoptive status, together with a more positive intergroup contact, predicted lower levels of negative prejudice. Implications for pre- and post-adoption interventions are discussed.

Accompagnare le famiglie nel post-adozione: intrecci tra ricerca accademica e intervento dei servizi

Nel presente contributo sara messa a tema l’importanza dell’accompagnamento post-adozione fin dalle prime fasi di formazione della famiglia adottiva e dell’applicazione di protocolli di ricerca e di raccolta dati sistematici a fini sia teorici sia applicativi. Nello specifico verra presentato un progetto nato dalla collaborazione tra il Centro d’Ateneo Studi e Ricerche sulla Famiglia e ‘Il Cerchio’ Centro Adozioni della ex Asl Milano 1, ora Asst Rhodense, che ha coinvolto la quasi totalita delle famiglie (circa 60) seguite dal servizio nel primo anno post-adozione. Nella prima parte del contributo viene presentata la progettazione del protocollo di ricerca; segue la descrizione della procedura, dei contenuti degli incontri e degli strumenti utilizzati; infine viene analizzato uno studio di caso singolo, esemplificativo dell’applicazione dell’intero protocollo.

Adozione e omogenitorialità: uno sguardo critico alle ricerche

L’articolo fornisce una sintetica rassegna critica delle ricerche psico-sociali condotte sul tema dell’adozione da parte di coppie omosessuali, evidenziandone limiti e questioni aperte. Vengono, inoltre, proposti alcuni interrogativi specifici del contesto dell’adozione che la ricerca empirica non intercetta, ma che danno conto della complessita del fenomeno in oggetto.