[Ktates]

Attachment issues don't have anything to do with the country you are adopting from but rather the care the child receives and the older the child the more likely they are to have attachment issues (again depending on the care they received/history). When I write care I mean was the child residing in an orphanage or foster care. A child from an orphanage is more likely to have some attachment issues than a child from foster care. However very young infants can have attachment issues as well.

The key thing is to do your homework - mom is right most agencies don't educate or tell their aparents to read up on attachment. A lot can be overcome with attachment parenting - many of us on the Russia board have said - if only we did more - or trusted our gut and did more attachment parenting...maybe things would be different - I adopted a 14 month old and had some mild attachment issues. Things are really great now 18 months later - and they were pretty good all along - I just knew - thanks to people on these boards - to read some of the symptoms and address it BEFORE it came to be a big problem.

In my few years on the boards - I have not seen a ton of SERIOUS attachment issues but not sure what your version of serious is compared to mine. The big thing here is an ounce of prevention -= 1lb of cure - People who adopt from orphanages should assume there will be some attachment issues and do attachment parenting from day 1 - course that is just my opinion. But it can't hurt and can only help.

The thing is too is that many outsiders (from adoption circle - like your families) - probably don't understand attachment and chalk attachment symptoms to normal toddler behaviour - thus making aparents like myself second guess things...

Hope this is helpful - bottom line I would say is read up - pm angelkisses for some good links although some are mentioned in the russia forum. And check with your agency and speak to other parents adopting from the same orphanage or program to find out their experiences as well. Guatemala has some orphanage programs and China has some foster care programs...and remember not all orphanages are created equal either!
good luck!