Transcript Post Adoption Issues and Concerns

Post Adoption Issues and Concerns
Victor Groza , Ph. D.
Professor of Social Work
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences
11235 Bellflower Road
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
(216) 368-6682
Presented to the Indian Council of Child Welfare
New Delhi, October 2002
Adoption is a process
Adoption is not a time-limited process, and adoption-related
issues surface throughout the lives of the individuals
involved in adoption—adoptees, adoptive parents and birth
parents
ISSUES IN FAMILY FORMATION
Adoptive family life is different than life as a biological family.
Different doesn’t mean deficit.
Families deal with differences in one of three ways:
families reject/deny the differences
families insist on differences
families acknowledge the difference
Consequences in ways families deal with differences
create a less open and less reality based environment
ascribe blame for difficulties to genetics or preadoptive
history (i.e., "the bad seed" or “the damaged goods”)
openly, sharing concerns and feelings about their adoptive
status
Evidence Based Practice
views research & practice as part of the same problemsolving process
views research as a tool to be used by practice
makes maximum use of research findings
collects data systematically to monitor interventions
and programs
demonstrates empirically whether or not interventions
and programs are effective
specifies problems, interventions/activities & outcomes
in terms that are concrete, observable & measurable
Indian Families who Adopted: The
Agency Context
Program evaluation of the domestic
adoption program of Bharatiya Samaj
Seva Kendra in Pune, India, in
collaboration with Holt International in
Eugene, Oregon, USA
INDIAN ADOPTIONS 1995-2000
Source: CARA
2000
1800
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Incountry
Adoption
Intercountry
Adoption
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
Agency Domestic Adoptions
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1981 1984 1989 1993 1997
Number of
Domestic
Adoptions at
BSSK, 1981-2000
Indian Families who Adopted: Our
Sample
The in-country breakdown used in this
project was:
374 families in Pune City
672 families in other parts of India
1046 Total in-country adoptions
Indian Families who Adopted: Our
Method to Gather Information
Pune
Random sample of
187 from 374 families
No address 49 (26%)
Mailed survey to 138
94 responded (68%)
Interview requested
(138)
113 responded (82%)
Outside Pune
Random sample of
336 from 672
families
No address 63
(19%)
Mailed survey to
273
136 responded
(50%)
No interview requested
Overview of Children’s Characteristics
53% female
Placement age=8 months
40% placed under 1 and 93% placed under 2
years
Study age=7.3 years
In adoptive home=6.6 years
The majority of the children (95%) had been in an
orphanage or institution before placement, for an
average of 4.6 months.
About 16% of children had been in a foster family
prior to adoption for an average of 3.5 months.
Overview of Child Functioning
Overall, these children do not
have special physical or health
needs.
There were no reports of
developmental delays at
placement or at the time of the
study.
The majority of children had no
sensory problems.
For the few children entering the
family with some sensory
difficulties, most of these
children had improved at the time
of the study with the exception of
activity level being too high.
While activity level too high was
evident at placement for 8% of the
children, the amount had almost
doubled at the time of the study.
Attachment relationships were
very positive.
The majority of children do not
have behavior problems with the
multiple measures used to assess
behavior. However, in about 10%
of the families, children had
serious emotional and behavioral
problems.
All families easily identified
strengths in their children.
Overview of the Adoptive Parents
Adoptive Father
38.6 years old at adoption
46.7 at time of study
55% completed survey
Adoptive Mother
35.5 years old at adoption
41.2 at time of study
33% completed survey
Overview of the Adoptive Families
20% of families had other children in the home (15%
adopted and 10% birth children)
Family income ranged from 9,550 rupees to 500,000 rupees
per year; the salary of 500,000 rupees was very unusual with
only one family reporting such income
Average income was 306, 665 rupees per year; median
family income was 150,000 rupees per year
60% of interviews were conducted at the residence of the
family
the primary reason families adopted was infertility (81%)
Mother (43%) was infertile or could not conceive (19%)
Infertile father (15%)
Both (5%)
Adoption Impact on Family
Very Positive
Positive
Mixed
Mostly
Negative
Adoption Stability
Smoother than expected
About as you expected
53%
38%
Had more “ups and downs”
9%
Have you ever thought of
ending the adoptive
placement?
Yes
No
4%
How often do you think of
ending the adoptive
placement?
Frequently
Most of the time
Not very often
Never
Overall, during the past year
has the adoption been:
96%
2%
1%
4%
93%
Birth Family Information
Birth Mother
ages 13 to 35 at the time of
the child’s birth; 20.9 years
old on average
About 25% of birth mothers
were under the age of 17 and
50% were under the age of
20.
About 20% of birth mothers
were students, 37% were
laborers, 20% were
unemployed and 20% worked
as domestics or were a
housewife.
Education ranged from
illiterate to 15th grade;
average grade was 7.6.
Most birth mothers (63%)
were single and about 18%
were married.
Birth Father
21 to 50 at the time of the
child’s birth; 27.4 years old on
average
About 25% of birth fathers
were under the age of 22 and
50% were under the age of
25.
About 11% of birth fathers
were students, 44% were
laborers, 20% were
professionals, 6% were
unemployed and 6% were in
the military.
Education ranged from
illiterate to 12th grade;
average grade was 7.8.
Most of the birth fathers were
single (54%) and about 18%
were married to some one
else other than the birth
mother.
How Child Became Available for Adoption
60% of the children were available for
adoption because the parents were
unmarried and the child was born out of
wedlock.
25% were abandoned.
7% of the children were placed for adoption
due to poverty
7% due to personal or social problems in
the birth family
1% due to incest or rape
Adoption Issues in the Family
In many cases (38%), the child had not been told that they were
adopted.
In 25% of the families, the parents initiated discussion with the
child.
In about 20% of the families, the adoption was disclosed at the
BSSK office or through BSSK.
In only 14% of the families did the child initiate discussion and in
5% a relative initiated the discussion.
While 38% of the families reported that the child felt comfortable
discussing their adoption, only 10% of the children every initiated
conversation about their adoption.
Almost half of the children do not know what birthmother means
(47%).
The conversations about adoption was anxiety producing for many
families and many of them discussed how they needed assistance
in talking about adoption with their child. They also commented
about needing help as the child gets older in dealing with adoption
issues. They struggled with the nature of discussions when
children were at various ages and wanted more preparation and
assistance in dealing with adoption issues over time
Services
Many families used the information they received from the
agency about their child.
Contact with other adoptive families was a resource to
families.
Families living outside Pune relied more on the agency and
evaluated the parent support group experience more postive
than families living in Pune. This may be, in part, to the fact
that families living in a large metropolitan area such as Pune
have access to a wider array of services and opportunities
for support and assistance than do families who do not live in
a metropolitan area.
A few families who adopted older children commented that
the social worker providing post-placement services was
supportive but too young and without sufficient professional
experience to assist them when issue arose.
The one area of concern to many parents was the court
system.
Indian Children Adopted to the U. S.
20000
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
0
1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001
Number of
International
Adoptees
Country of Origin
9000
Asia
8000
7000
6000
5000
4000
Central/South
America
Russia/Former
Republics
Eastern Europe
3000
2000
1000
0
Carribean
Africa
Indian Children in the U. S.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
1989 1992 1995 1998 2001
Visa Issued
COMPARISON OF FAMILY FOSTER
CARE TO INSTITUTIONAL CARE
FAMILY CARE
Love/affection
structure
1:1 attention/individual
focus
belonging to an
extended system of
relations
stimulation through
relationships
INSTITUTIONAL
CARE
acceptance/tolerance
distance
routine
1:8-35 attention/group
focus
belong/identify to the
group
stimulation thru
programs
Risks to Children from Early
Institutionalization
Health
Development
Attachment
Psychosocial (Emotional and
Behavioral) Functioning
Outcomes in International Adoption
Resilient Rascals
Wounded Wonders
Challenged Children
Results from 3 Researchers
70
60
50
Resilient
Rascals
Wounded
Wonders
Challenged
Children
40
30
20
10
0
Groza
Jenista
Bascom
Research on Indian Children Adopted by
Americans
From the 1999 article, “The American Adoption of Indian
Children from Mother Theresa’s Orphanages: The
Parents,” by Joan Goodman and Stacy Kim. Adoption
Quarterly, Vol. 3(2):5-27.
From the 2000 article,” Outcomes" of adoptions of
children from India: A subjective versus normative view
of ‘success’”. Adoption Quarterly, Vol. 4(2):3-27.
Adoptions in 1970s & 1980s
Survey of 340 families;
21% response rate for
families
76 families and 57
adoptees
85% married at
adoption & 74% at
time of study
Most parents were
highly educated
Most families adopted
for altruistic reasons
Half had not
considered that their
child may have health,
developmental or
behavioral difficulties
althougth almost half
the children had them
Little negativity about
adoption outcomes
from view of parents
the adoptees reported
satisfaction with their
lives & were optimistic
about their futures
Conclusion
Excellent progress is being made with regard to
domestic adoption in India.
The BSSK adoption program responds to a need
in the community.
Families evaluate the agency practices positively
and adoptions are quite positive.
Most of the children are developmentally
appropriate and have no health problems, sensory
difficulties or behavior problems.
Parents report good parent-child relations and the
adoptions are very stable.
Recommendations
Recruiting families is an ongoing process.
Develop a parent advisory board to agencies.
Children, even though they are infants and toddlers, need to have
pre-adoptive preparation activities prepared for them by adoption
workers. In particular, life books should be continued as standard
practice.
More resources for children, such as story books and stories, that
have adoption themes as a metaphor need to be developed.
One support that many families commented on was the need for
parent seminars and education groups.
Formal services need to be developed to strengthen and support
families, particularly as the child gets older and different issues
arise.
While the residential facility for care of children waiting adoptive
placement is excellent and could serve as a model residence for
other countries, the heavy reliance on institutional-based care
compared to family-based care is problematic.