[NancyAshe]

Two researchers from the Netherlands report that perhaps the reason for their findings that internationally adopted children have fewer behavioral problems and require fewer mental health services than domestically adopted children lies with their parents. The researchers, Femmie Juffer and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn of Leiden University, suggest that because of the differences inherent in international adoption, adoptive parents may be telling their internationally adopted children more fully and earlier about their origins and having been adopted than parents who adopt children domestically, creating a stronger and more trusting atmosphere.

Recently, a few sensationalized stories in the press have apparently had a widespread effect on public perceptions of international adoption and it appears this was a major reason for the study. The researchers found that adopted children generally have more disruptive behavior and are more likely to receive mental health services than non-adopted children, but that within the group of adopted children, those adopted internationally fare better in these areas than those adopted domestically.

The researchers studied materials gathered from 137 studies conducted over the period 1950-2005, concerning adoptions in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, and New Zealand, and the findings are published in the May 24th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

See news reports on this study.

[Peanut]

adopted children generally have more disruptive behavior and are more likely to receive mental health services than non-adopted children

Well I do not have experience with traveling for international adoption (my Kenyan son was born in the U.S.), but I do know that it seems the more people outside the home, like school, know of your child's adoption the more apt they are to try to label them as "problem".
We have three open adoptions, so I agree that it is best to tell your children in positive terms about their adoption, it only makes the family bond stronger. Parents also must be vigilant about making sure that others see adoption as a positive and know that most adopted children are normal & not "problem" children at all. As parents we must be strong advocates for our children, we know them the best. We need to make sure that they are not falsely labeled. Already we have had a bad school experience where they insisted our child had ADHD, luckily we and our DR. strongly diagreed. I am afraid maybe some parents are pushed into having a child diagnosed with something like ADHD, when what is really going on is a flase assumption that society still holds about adoptive children being somehow "damaged" goods (why else would they have been placed?) As adoptive parents we need to fight that assumption for our children as well as future adoptees.

[Jensboys]

Having read the whole study myself --- the other interesting parts of it were

#1) That although adoptive parents tended to get their children mental health services more than non-adoptive parents, adoptees are UNDER represented in juvinile court, and adult mental health services. The authors of the study hypothesize that aparents tend to be proactive in getting their kids help, thus avoiding long term problems.

#2) Adoptees, although having more issues than non-adopted control group, still did better than siblings in birth homes.

#3) That the more honest the interation with aparents, the more adoption is integrated into a young child's life and self perception - the better the child does long term.

Its an interesting study when you read the whole thing!

Jen

[NaeNae26]

Bump!!!

I just wanted to make sure this get pushed up to the top. I was in my Pride Classes for foster/adopt last weekend and half the group said they would not tell the child they were adopted until they were older and could handle it better.

I and many others disagreed with them because the child will hear it from someone and you want it to be you to build a sense of trust. If they child finds out from anyone else it could be very harmful (ex. You tell another parent who has a child in the same preschool or kindergarten as your childr. The parents are talking and children overhear. What if the kid tells your kid he/she is adopted and makes it a negative. That can hurt.)

Anyway, I just wanted to say this study is good!

[LisaCA]

I can't imagine not telling as soon as possible. with dd (who is now 10.5 months old), it's just part of what we talk about. We have pictures of her bfamily and her afamily together with her in her bedroom and look at them often. We're visiting bfamilies next month, so we'll take pictures then, and so on.

dd has many identities, adoptee is just one of them. it will be as ordinary and as "normal" as every other family construction. It helps that on our street of 10 houses, three have adopted children in them (a total of 5 kids), two international, two domestic, and one domestic/relative adoption.

I'm troubled by NaeNae's experience in her foster/adopt classes-hopefully these paparents will change their mind with information.

Lisa