It is generally known that nowadays’ family institution is in the doldrums, with divorce rate being at its highest, parents not wanting to raise mentally handicapped children, abusing proscribed substances or not being able to maintain them. These are very few reasons that cause parents to abandon their children only for them to be adopted by a new family if they have such luck. However, as per scientific researches, children to enter a new family face a whole variety of mental issues that may keep them from growing into fully-fledged individuals. They have hard times trying to get themselves acclimatized in their new families and rarely do they succeed, as much as they would love to. Their psychological ontogenesis or evolution may take a different way of development.
Christine Adamec and William Pierce, the Doctor of Philosophy, (n.p.) suggested there was little agreement, if any, among psychology experts as to whether or not the adopted children experience a greater degree of mental or psychological illnesses compared to those non-adopted, the number of the adopted to have psychological issues varying from 5% to 25%, which largely depends on the research conducted. The authors of adoption-related article in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America believed the adopted children had emotional issues that were slightly exaggerated by adoptive parents. Being in possession of social and economic advantages, parents are predisposed to raise unnecessary concerns, creating problems artificially (qtd. in Adamec & Pierce, n.p.). Steve Nickman, a psychiatrist, slammed therapists to examine the adopted children and their parents for their not taking into consideration the age of the adopted, the importance of family bonds as well as the necessity to quiz their newly-made parents (qtd. in Adamec & Pierce n.p.). A good number of examiners who benchmark the non-adopted children against the adopted ones fail to factor in important details; hence, rather than examining children in the general population, they shift focus on clinical or institutionalized population, without considering age and the time of adoption (Adamec & Pierce n.p.).
Philosophy Doctor, Allan Schwartz (n.p.) admitted that the adopted children were very likely to feel rejection and abandonment at some point in the future. Both feelings may be haunting, what is more, accompanied by grief and loss. There is no predicting when and how systematically these feelings will keep transpiring; however the fact is that they will present themselves sooner or later. The sense of self-esteem may also pose a serious issue to such children who tend to shoulder the burden of blame on themselves for having been abandoned by their blood parents. Stemming from full families, never do non-adopted children face self-esteem feelings on a regular basis. When they do, these problems are due to reasons other than abandonment. It must be borne in mind these emotional disturbance has no bearing on the amount of love and care received from adoptive parents (Schwartz n.p.). Norvell and Guy (n.p.) collated the adopted and the non-adopted children in research conducted back in 1977, with 721 test-takers quizzed. The hypothesis was that the former had a more negative self-concept than the latter did while the results clearly showed there was no particular difference in indices (qtd. in Adamec & Pierce n.p.).
The feeling of guilt is a yet another psychological problem when children feel as if they were disloyal to adoptive parents that love and rear them. Unwillingness to hurt or betray their new parents and the fear of being disloyal are what keep children disturbed. It is exactly the status of adoption and new family members that cause a child to entertain these feeling, which means they are applicable to adopted children only. Children adopted by their new parents may feel disconnection with the initial legacy of their birth parents. This type of feeling affects children of different racial descent particularly strong, for example, an Asia-born child may have problems adapting in a racially different family. The feeling of disloyalty may come with child’s seeking their natural parents. What adoptive parents need to do is help a child succeed in that quest and on no account should they distort or try to disguise the truth for fear of losing their child, which has the potential of leading to relationship breach. Adoptive parents spare no effort in trying to keep a child in family; however, all he or she wants is simply learn about family roots (Schwartz n.p.).
Eric Erikson, a prominent psychologist, thinks adoptees to often have identity problems, especially by the time they are adolescents since it is hard for them to seek their self, without having encountered their parents and not knowing anything about family heritage. They are literally left guessing who they are. Young individuals will be looking to fill in those gaps and gain their self as soon as they have reached adolescence, a specific transitional period between puberty, else physical maturing, and adulthood (Schwartz n.p.). Weiss (n.p.) had it that the adopted children were no more predisposed to personality disorders on a large scale than they were to antisocial behavior unlike their non-adopted fellows. As per his observations, the adopted children, however, were admitted to hospitals and diagnosed with similar issues at a younger age than the non-adopted were. More than that, the adopted were reported to have less ratio of psychosis, including when on discharge. Of 47 adopted children hospitalized only 25,5% had been given psychosis diagnose while, of 93 non-adopted children admitted to a hospital, 46,2% had been previously diagnosed with this temporary ailment (qtd. in Adamec & Pierce n.p.). That being said, identity problems or personality disorder does not necessarily depend on adoption, not being developing in new social environment, with new caregivers surrounding children. Factors other than adaptation might well be responsible for psychological disorders and deviating asocial behavior.
Adoptive parents may be seen sometimes not providing a child with all the information needed with respect to their genetic heritage. It is important that information on genetic peculiarities of any given child should be known to the adoptive family that psychological issues to transpire will be easily cured. To put an example, a patient that was admitted to a hospital had had ADHD or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder sometime in the past; however, he never made it known to his or her adoptive parents who might have had their child’s disorder medically corrected before it was diagnosed again (Schwartz n.p.).
Children’s being genetically predisposed to psychological illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, to name a few, should be factored in; however it is not in adoptive families that they develop these decreases. Rather, the possibility of these illnesses may be reduced in children, when in adoptive families. There is a 10% chance for a child to develop schizophrenia when raised by a parent to have such decease while this possibility falls to 3% for children brought up by adoptive parents not to have this psychological illness (Adamec & Pierce n.p.).
According to Adamec and Pierce (n.p.), sexually harassed children and those to have lived in five foster homes prior to being adopted are bound to have adjustment problems and will require treating medically. Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Beth Troutman (1) saw the possibility of a child’s developing attachment disruptions once taken away from his or her caregiver, no matter how much abuse they may have been treated with and how much care they may have under-received. Gean, Gillmore and Dowler (n.p.) admitted that the less children’s new caregiver resembled the old ones, the more problem, such as crying, oppositional behavior, and clinging, they would experience, when trying to get adapted (qtd. in Troutman 1). Oosterman, Schuengel, Slot, and Doreleijers (n.p.) came to admit such emotional and behavioral difficulties could lay ground for further disruptions, including that of a foster care placement. According to Lawrence, Carlson, and Egeland (n.p.) & Pilowsky and Kate (n.p.), though viewing their adoptive parents, or caregivers for their day-to-day physical and emotional needs, as their primary attachment figure, placement in new families as well as reunification with parents is sure to create attachment disruption, which is bound to mental health problems augmentation and psychiatric emergencies (qtd. in Troutman 2). According to American Psychiatric Association, if exposed to repeated disruptions children may develop reactive attachment disorder that is accompanied by serious disturbances in interaction with foster parents (qtd. in Troutman 1).
Child’s psychological functioning may be targeted by disruptions in attachment relationships as well. Fisher, Stoolmiller, Gunnar and Burraston (n.p.) suggested there were to observed alterations in HPA or hypothalamic-adrenal-pituitary axis activity, a specific physiological system, responding to stress, controlling sleep, and the capacity of battling infections among those affected by disruptions (qtd. in Troutman 2). The depth of disruption negligence may determine the scope of alterations that take place to culminate in sleep issues, the inability to handle stressors as well as exposure to deceases (Troutman 2). As may be deduced from the aforementioned, all these disruptions as well as subsequent health repercussions occur among children who are adopted and have nothing else to do but find attachment to their new caregivers unlike their peers who live in full families.
Park (n.p.) admitted that the adopted children might be diagnosed with mental disorders, such as hyperactivity, attention deficit, oppositional defiance, separation anxiety, and depression. According to doctor Ronald Federici, a clinical neuropsychologist, such children may have increased rates of fetal alcohol syndrome, brain damage as well as autism. These are sometimes children, coming from the Eastern bloc, with them having lived in neglected orphanages without care and access to proper education. Apart from having children abuse alcohol and drugs, such living conditions are instrumental in developmental delays, neglect, and abandonment sentiments. Behavior-related issues are due to children’s being institutionalized. Hence, the less amount of time they spend in orphanages, the less number of psychological deviations and handicaps they are likely to face. If a child gets adopted at the early stages of his or her life, psychological risks diminish significantly. Turbulent past may predestine future evolution of a child since some of them may put disturbing behavior on display by threatening their foster parents or entertaining suicide sentiments. Naturally, non-adopted children are far from being affected by these psychological meltdowns and deep-seated disorders, without staying in such institutions at a delicate age (Park n.p.).
Chief of genetics and development medicine at the Children’s Hospital New York, Robert Marion, admitted that the reason of psychological oppositional and asocial behavioral deviations as well as psychological disorders was children’s being taken away from their parents who proved unable to take care of them and their being placed in orphanages. Some of these children are born to unreliable parents who have a well-documented history of substances abuse as well as being diagnosed with health issues. It is not that the non-adopted children are not prone to psychological disorders; it is that the recorded adopted children have higher rates of these disorders, being raised by substance or alcohol abusers as well as parents with health problems. Children adopted may have genetically receive psychological and mental issues inasmuch as their mothers might have abused alcohol during pregnancy, which may cause children to have learning disabilities, low IQ rate, cognitive impairment, attention deficiency, social issues and other problems. A research, collating 500 adopted and non-adopted children, conducted in 2008 showed the adopted children have twice the chance of their non-adopted fellows to develop attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or oppositional defiant disorder (Park n.p.). According to Keyes, Sharma, Elkins, Iacono, and McGue (n.p.), the adopted have higher conduct disorder rate compared to their non-adopted peers, especially if they stem from foreign countries.
Conclusions
Works Cited
Adamec, Christine, & Pierce, William. “Psychiatric Problems of Adopted Persons.” Adoption.com. 2000. n.p. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Keyes, Margaret, Sharma Anu, Elkins, Irene J., Iacono, William G., & McGue, Matt. “The Mental Health of US Adolescents Adopted in Infancy.” Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. 162.5. (2008): n.p. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Park, Madison. “Adopted Children at Greater Risk for Mental Health Disorders.” CNN Health. 14 April, 2010. n.p. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Schwartz, Allan. “Psychological Issues Faced by Adopted Children and Adults.” MentalHelp.net. 18 June, 2009. n.p. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Troutman, Beth. “Effects of Foster Care placement on young Children’s Mental Health: Risks and Opportunities.” University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. 2011. 1-8. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
