[LEJ8]

Can anyone who adopted a 6-8 year old internationally please answer some questions for me...

1. How did your child adapt to school, new language, culture, etc...
2. Do you think your child is as attached to you as a child you adopted at a younger age would be?
3. Why did you adopt a child at that age?
4. How was the plane trip home?

Thanks for all your help in advance!

[jessibird]

I can't be of any help, but i know of some people on our agencies board that have from China. If you want to PM me your email I can ask them to email you.

So happy if you are considering an older child adoption!!

[DPline]

You might also post your question on the Guatemala Forum. There are several people there who have adopted older children.

Good luck!

[momraine]

My son was six and half when we brought him home.
Lets see:
He adapted great to school, it was and is where he thrives since it's a lot like the orphanage environment to him. He learned the language very, very fast. He started school in December (we put him in K) and were able to pull him from ESL early in first grade. The fact that he heard only English at home and school made him aquire it very, very fast. He has actually handled most of the culture well too.
As for attaching, our son has Reactive Attachment disorder. It has been a long road. He has been home for two years and is just now really begining to attach. Attachment issues can happen at any age, but are more likely as the child becomes older.
We adopted him, becuase as soon as we saw him we knew he was our son. We did our homework too and so were prepared to do attachment parenting.
The plane ride home was not bad. He slept a lot. I had kept several toys back that he had not yet seen that I saved specifically for the flight. So that helped a lot.