EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 1

Effects of Adoption on a Child’s Development After the Age of One

Bailey Freeman

Auburn University
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 2

Adoption can be a difficult process not only for the child, but for the new parents as well.

It can be hard to prepare for the child because the parents may not know exactly what the child

has endured before the adoption, especially if the child is being adopted after the age of one. The

longer the child is in an institution or a foster home, and not bonding with a caregiver, the more

difficult the transition can be once the child is adopted. It is very important for adopting parents

to know what to do if their new child is having problems and know why these problems are

occurring. More research has come out over the last decade about post-adoption issues and why

the child is having these issues, which is very helpful to adopting parents and parent educators

that work with adoptive families. This paper will address some research that has been written on

how adoption after the age of one effects a child’s developmental, behavioral and emotional

stages and how parents can help their child through this stressful time of change.

In the first research article, the researchers’ (Hoksbergen, Laak, & Rijk, 2010) purpose

for doing this study was to look at children after being adopted from Romania and find out how

their behavioral problems develop after being with their adopted families for about five years.

They also wanted to find what influences these behavioral problems that develop, and do these

adopted children have a variety of behavioral problems. The researchers hypothesized that if they

used the Child Behavior Checklist, focusing on factors such as age and health at adoption, to

quantify the development of behavioral problems in the adopted children, they could provide

proper intervention of professional help to these children at an earlier age. The researchers

(Hoksbergen et al., 2010), conducted three different phases that the Romanian adoptees were

asked to participate in for the research study. In the first and second phase, the participants were

all Romanian children that were adopted between 1991-1997. About 86% responded in the first

phase, and about 83% responded in the second phase (80 children in 72 different families). In the
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 3

third phase, all families were invited to participate but only 64 families (72 children)

participated. All but two of the children were in the age range of the Child Behavior Checklist.

All of the adopted children came from Romanian orphanages and were adopted by Dutch

families. There were 41 boys (57%) and 31 girls (43%), and their average age at adoption was 2

years 9 months. During the first measurement, the average age of the children was 7 years 11

months, and during the second measurement, the average age of the children was 13 years 1

month. Based on parent judgement of health at time of adoption, 37 children (51%) were in good

health and 36 children (49%) were in moderate or bad health. The researchers (Hoksbergen et.

al., 2010) used only one instrument to measure their participants. They used the Child Behavior

Checklist, but administered it twice to monitor the development over time. The CBCL was done

by the adopted parents and consisted of a questionnaire with two parts, problem scales and

competence scales; however, the researchers only used the problem scales which consists of two

broadband syndromes, internalizing and externalizing, and eight different problem scales. The

scores from the questionnaire is divided into non-clinical, borderline, or clinical. The CBCL was

completed by the adopted parents both times, and about 5 years was between the first and second

test. Only about 17% in the first test did not respond and only about 10% did not respond to the

second test.

Hoksbergen and colleagues (2010) found that the percentage of the children they studied

scored within the clinical range in both measurements which was higher than the norm group.

Even after being with their adopted families for a few years, the consequences of the deprivation

they experienced in the orphanages were still visible. Overall, the behavioral problems in the

children were persistent and there was diversity in development of the behavioral problems

among the children. It is unclear of the exact mechanism in which deprivation influences a
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 4

child’s development. The researchers (Hoksbergen et al., 2010) found that the children in special

education programs and were seeking professional help were more likely to see a decrease in

problems over time. This concluded that the deprivation these children experienced while living

in the Romanian orphanages did impact them later in life and they developed behavioral

problems from the deprivation. However, the researchers believe that following these children

into adulthood would give more information on the long-term effects of early childhood

deprivation. The findings are important because even though they focused on Romanian children

adopted into Dutch families, their findings could be helpful for adoptive children from one

country to another country as well.

In another research article, the researchers’ (Lawler, Koss, Doyle, & Gunnar, 2016)

wanted to fill the gap between if children exhibiting disinhibited social engagement behaviors at

adoption would continue on until they reached criteria from a disorder. They found that there is

little longitudinal research currently out and no established method to measure disinhibited social

engagement. The researchers (Lawler et al., 2016) decided to study disinhibited social

engagement behaviors across the first few years of post-adoption to see if Disinhibited Social

Engagement Disorder could be predicted and allow for parents to provide earlier professional

intervention. The researchers (Lawler et al., 2016) studied 68 post-institutionalized adopted

children, in which 60% were female and adopted between 16-36 months of age and included 52

non-adopted children in which 50% were female. The post-institutionalized children were

recruited from Midwestern adoption agencies, and the non-adopted children were recruited from

a list of families that expressed interest in participating in research studies. The primary

caregivers of all of the children also participated in all of the session, in which 90% were

mothers. There were four in-person assessments in a parent-child laboratory and two telephone
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 5

interviews, one pre-adoptive care and one clinical. Three different instruments were used to

measure the participants. The first instrument was Observed DSE which consisted of a ten-

minute stranger interaction in a controlled environment that was videoed and coded. The child’s

verbal and nonverbal initiations and physical contact to the stranger was scored. The frequency

and duration of contact and approach between the child and the stranger was also scored. The

second instrument was the DSED Interview and was conducted between an interviewer and post-

institutionalized children. The interview was adapted from the Disturbances of Attachment

Interview, and consisted of 23 questions that assessed RAD, DSED, and separation anxiety in the

child. The third instrument was Early Adversity which rated the child’s pre-adoptive social care

quality during a phone interview with the caregiver.

Lawler and colleagues (2016) examined social engagement changes in young children

that were either reared in their birth families or were internationally adopted from an orphanage

between the ages of 16 and 36 months. They specifically focused on DSE behaviors in the post-

institutionalized children to see if there were any changes during the transition from the

orphanage to their new family to see if they would meet the criteria for DSED at five years old.

Both groups of children had behavioral changes, such as an increase in nonphysical sociability

and a decrease in physical contact with strangers, during their preschool years. Although both

groups showed an increase in these behaviors, the post-institutionalized children had a higher

increase in nonphysical DSE behaviors. However, it was decided that the measures of DSE at 1.6

months after adoption (18-36 months old) was not predictive of DSED symptoms at age 5, but

looking at changes in 8.2 months after adoption (26-44 months old) proved that post-

institutionalized children with more marked increase in overall DSE were more likely to meet

DSED criteria at age 5. This is beneficial to adoptive parents because they can be aware of these
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 6

behaviors when their adopted child gets to a certain age so they can provide proper and necessary

professional help to the child.

In the last research article, the researchers (Vorria, Papaligoura, Sarafidou, Kopakaki,

Dunn, & Van Ijzendoorn, 2006) provided the first study that focuses on the development of

children that were removed from an institution to be adopted and had formed a secure or insecure

attachment to their original caregiver and had experienced a change in who they attach to

because of the adoption. They focused on children who were adopted after living in the Metera

Babies Centre for the first two years of their life. They wanted to see if children, when placed in

a nurturing environment, adoptive family, manage to recover from the initial adverse experience,

living in an orphanage and changing caregivers. The study consisted of 61 adopted children, in

which 32 were boys with an average age of 4.2 years and 29 were girls with an average age of

4.2 years. The average age at which the children were adopted was 1 year 8 months old, and they

had been with their adoptive family for at least 2 years 4 months. Thirty of the adopted children

were living in the Athens (Greece) area, and 31 were living in the country. A comparison group

was also used that consisted of 39 children, in which 20 were boys with an average age of 4.2

years and 19 girls with an average age of 4.2 years, and all of these children lived in Athens

except for one child. All of the adopted children were reared in the Metera Babies Centre in

Athens. The comparison group all attended a full-time day care center that was of lower quality.

The Centre contacted all of their adoptive families to recruit participants for the study and those

who responded were then visited at their home, and the day care center provided the caregivers

with a questionnaire about the child and their relationship. Both groups of children were visited

at home by two research assistants and a psychologist for three hours. Some had to have a

secondary visit to complete the data collection. The researchers (Vorria et al., 2006) used ten
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 7

different instruments to measure the participants. The first instrument was the Attachment Q-Sort

that was used as an alternative to the Strange Situation assessment and observes the relationship

between the child and the caregiver. They did a three-hour observation in all of the children’s

homes for this instrument. The second instrument used was the Attachment Story Completion

Task that was used to assess the child’s feelings of their relationship with their primary

caregivers (both the mother and the father). The assessment was videotaped and coded. The third

instrument used was the McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities that measured each child’s

cognitive development. The fourth instrument used was the British Picture Vocabulary Scale was

used to measure each child’s vocabulary skills. The fifth instrument used was the Denham

Puppet Scenario which was used to assess each child’s emotional understanding. The sixth

instrument used was the Colorado Children’s Temperament Inventory which consisted of four

different subscales (activity, negative emotionality, shyness, and sociability). However, only

shyness was used because of low reliability. This questionnaire was given to the child’s mother.

The seventh instrument used was the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The only

information the researchers gave for this instrument is “Cronbach’s alpha for the total difficulties

score was .75” (Vorria et al., 2006). The eighth instrument used was the Parenting Stress Index

Questionnaire that was given to all of the mothers to assess their parenting quality. The ninth

instrument used was the General Health Questionnaire that had four subscales (somatic

symptoms, anxiety/insomnia, social dysfunction, and severe depression) and was completed by

all of the mothers. The tenth instrument used was the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale which

was used to assess the children that attended day-care full-time. This questionnaire has 30

questions that assess how the teacher perceives their relationship with the child.
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 8

Vorria and colleagues (2006) wanted to find if there were significant cognitive, social,

and emotional developmental differences between children raised by their biological parents and

children adopted from an institution because the adoption is a drastic change in a child’s life.

They found that the adopted children were less secure in their attachment relationship to their

adoptive parents than the comparison group children and it is assumed that it is because they

spent their first two years of life in an institution in which they did not learn how to develop a

secure attachment to a caregiver. It is not impossible for these children to eventually form secure

attachment patterns to their adoptive parents, however it may take more time for them to adjust

and bond. The adoptive children also had a harder time understanding emotions, which was

expected because emotional understanding has been linked to experiences and conversations

within the family. The cognitive development of the adopted children was also behind the

children in the comparison group. The study took place not too long after adoption, so there has

not been a lot of time for the child to recover. Other research has proved that by the time these

children reach elementary school, the differences in their cognitive development disappears. The

researchers (Vorria et al., 2006) concluded that if a child is in institutional care during the first

two years of their life, it has lasting effects on the child’s development. However, it is possible

for these children to adjust and have positive developmental changes once they have to time to

adjust to their new, adoptive family.

All three of the research articles in this paper focus on how a child’s development is

effected by being adopted after one years old. The research provides helpful information for

current and future adoptive parents to use when adopting children after the age of one. This

information also helps them if they find themselves with a child that is not adjusting well to their

new home and family. They can use this research to find professional help for their child so they
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 9

can adjust appropriately. It is hard to predict how an adopted child will adjust once at home, but

adoptive parents can use research, like these articles, to recognize certain behaviors in their child

and find professional help for their child. Adoption can be an extremely stressful change for a

child who does not quite understand what is happening, but being able to provide them with

professional help can ease their transition during this uncertain time of their life.
EFFECTS OF ADOPTION 10

References

Hoksbergen, R. A. C., Laak, J. T., Rijk, C. H. A. M. (2010). Development of behavioral

problems in children adopted from Romania to the Netherlands, after a period of

deprivation. European Journal of Developmental Psychology. 7(2). 233-248. doi:

10.1080/17405620802063339.

Lawler, J. M., Koss, K. J., Doyle, C. M., & Gunnar, M. R. (2016). The course of early

disinhibited social engagement among post-institutionalized adopted children.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 57(10). 1126-1134. doi:

10.1111/jcpp.12606.

Vorria, P., Papaligoura, Z., Sarafidou, J., Kopakaki, M., Dunn, J., Van Ijzendoorn, M. H.,

& Kontopoulou, A. (2006). The development of adopted children after institutional

care: A follow-up study. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(12). 1246-

1253. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01666.x