Adoption project.

CONTEXT: Children born in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are now a main source of international adoptions in the United States, but often little information is available about these children prior to adoption. OBJECTIVE: To analyze the preadoptive medical reports of children adopted from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and to compare these reports with their evaluations after arrival in the United States. DESIGN: Case series. SUBJECTS AND SETTING: A total of 56 children adopted from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union were evaluated in 2 international adoption clinics. Preadoptive medical records were available for 47 of these children. RESULTS: There were 43 (91%) of 47 medical reports available from the children's birth countries that included multiple unfamiliar neurologic diagnoses. Evaluations in the International Adoption Clinics frequently revealed growth delays (zscore < or = -1 for weight in 44% of children, height in 68%, and head circumference in 43%). Children had 1 month of linear growth lag for every 5 months in an orphanage (r=-0.48, P<.001). Developmental delays were also common (gross motor delays in 70% of children, fine motor in 82%, language in 59%, and social-emotional in 53%). While serious medical problems were found or corroborated in 11 (20%) of the 56 children evaluated in our clinics, neurologic diagnoses cited in preadoptive medical reports were not confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Preadoptive medical records from these international adoptees included multiple diagnoses suggesting severe neurologic impairment. Although these diagnoses were not confirmed when the children were evaluated in the United States, substantial growth and developmental delays were identified.

Adoption↗

PubMed1997

[Being raised by lesbian parents or in a single-parent family is no risk factor for problem behavior, however being raised as an adopted child is].

Modern reproductive techniques and alternative family structures (with single or homosexual parents and adoption situations) raise questions about the consequences for the growing children involved. Genetic links appear to be less important for the functioning of a family than a strong wish for parenthood; parents who have become parents only through great efforts display a better quality of parenthood than average natural parents. Characteristics of the parent/parents, such as paedagogic qualities, and the quality of the parent-child relationship appear more important than the type of family. Published results of research reveal no reason why lesbian families should be judged differently from heterosexual ones as family types for the raising of children. The main negative factor for the functioning of the child growing up in a single-parent family is the marriage conflicts that have led to the single-parent situation; being raised by a single parent in itself has no adverse effect. Raising adopted children from other countries makes far greater demands on the adoptive parents than parents of biological children have to meet. The raising of a foreign adopted child by a single parent entails additional risks for the child's development. Data on the development of children in alternative family structures frequently concern exceptionally competent parents, which may have biased the findings.

Adoption↗