Maite Román

Growth and development in internationally adopted children: extent and timing of recovery after early adversity

BACKGROUND Following initial adversity, internationally adopted children arrive with significant growth and developmental delays. Post-placement recovery has been widely documented, but little has been known about its extent and timing several years after placement and in children with diverse pre-adoptive experiences. METHODS A total of 289 children adopted from six countries into Spanish families were studied. Growth and psychological development were considered on arrival and after an average of over 3 years. RESULTS Growth and developmental initial delays affected a substantial percentage of the children. Post-adoption recovery seemed quicker and more complete in weight and height than in head circumference and psychological development. Initial and later values were correlated, but growth-development relation on arrival subsequently lost significance. Most of the catch-up happened in the first three post-adoption years. CONCLUSION Adoption offers an impressive opportunity for recovery after previous adversity, although continuity between past and present persists. The improvement is more marked in some areas than in others and more substantial in the first post-adoption years.

Family context for emotional recovery in internationally adopted children

English The context for emotional recovery was analysed in 30 Spanish parents adopting from Russia and a comparison group. The adopted children’s attachment disorders improved significantly after adoption. Adoptive parents showed a more sophisticated and optimistic reflective functioning about their children and their parenting experience. French Le contexte du rétablissement affectif a été analysé chez 30 couples de parents espagnols adoptant des enfants en provenance de Russie et comparé avec celui d’un groupe témoin. Les troubles de l’attachement chez les enfants adoptés se sont améliorés significativement après l’adoption. Les parents adoptifs ont montré un des capacités de réflexion plus sophistiquées et optimistes à propos de leurs enfants et de leur expérience d’éducation. Spanish El contexto de la recuperación emocional se analizó en 30 adoptantes en Rusia y en un grupo de comparación. Los trastornos de apego mejoraron de forma significativa tras la adopción. Los adoptantes mostraron una visión más sofisticada y optimista de sus hijos y de su propia experiencia como padres.

Adversity and Adjustment in Children in Institutions, Family Foster Care, and Adoption.

This studys objective was to identify the adversity profiles of children in different childcare placements, and to analyze their relationship with subsequent psychological adjustment. We studied a group of 230 children 4 to 10 years old indifferent childcare placements (international adoption, institutional care, non-kin foster care, and kinship care), as well as a control group. Information was collected from parent or caregiver interviews and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). The results showed that children in the child welfare system had experienced significant adversity before their current placement, especially among institutional care cases and international adoptees. Meanwhile, children in kinship care had experienced less adversity (p .50 to d > .80). After a period of time in their respective placements, childrens psychological adjustment was generally positive, but children living in institutional care exhibited the most problems and difficulties, followed by non-kin foster care cases (p .50 to d > .80). Finally, we found that childrens early adversity levels (p < .05; r = .16), age of current placement (p < .01; r = .23), and duration of current placement (p < .05: r = -.19) were all tied to current psychological adjustment.

Parental stress, family functioning and children’s psychological adjustment in adoptive families: A comparative and longitudinal study

This work focuses on parental stress in adoptive families with regard to certain key components of family functioning (the family cohesion and adaptability and the parental reflective functioning) as well as in its connection with adopted children’s adjustment. The sample included 98 Spanish parents and children: a group of 40 internationally adoptive families and another group of 58 non-adoptive families, who served as a control group. The longitudinal and comparative analysis showed no significant differences between adoptive and non-adoptive families’ stress scores, but a different incidence of higher stress levels (more non-adoptive families scored above the 75% cut-off). Parental stress scores were related to family adaptability, parental reflective functioning and children’s psychological adjustment. The regression model showed that the best parental stress predictor, for adoptive families, was children’s hyperactivity problems, also linked to family adaptability.

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.

Rappresentazioni dell’attaccamento in bambini adottati tramite adozione internazionale

In questo studio sono state analizzate le rappresentazioni dell’attaccamento di un gruppo di 40 bambini adottati tramite adozione internazionale e valutati in media 40 mesi dopo l’adozione attraverso lo Story Stem Assessment Profile. Questi bambini sono stati messi a confronto con 58 bambini che vivevano con le loro famiglie biologiche e senza alcuna esperienza di maltrattamento e con 50 bambini che vivevano in orfanotrofi spagnoli. Tutti i bambini avevano un’eta compresa tra i 4 e gli 8 anni al momento dello studio. I risultati hanno indicato che le rappresentazioni dei bambini adottati erano molto piu negative di quelle dei bambini del gruppo di controllo, ma simili a quelle dei bambini istituzionalizzati. Sono state inoltre analizzate le associazioni tra diversi indicatori delle rappresentazioni di attaccamento, cosi come il ruolo delle caratteristiche dei bambini adottati (esperienze preadottive, eta all’adozione, tempo trascorso con la famiglia adottiva). I risultati hanno mostrato un impatto a lungo termine degli eventi negativi precoci, un certo grado di varieta nelle rappresentazioni dell’attaccamento sia nei bambini adottati sia istituzionalizzati, e hanno messo in luce il ruolo giocato da determinate variabili di background ed individuali.