Study finds international adoptees better adjusted

The following story was published today by Reuters. It can be found at http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N24537845.htm

A second, more positive story that directly admits to all sensationalized press around ICA can be found at http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050525/ap_on_re_us/adopted_children

Study finds international adoptees better adjusted
24 May 2005 20:00:31 GMT

Source: Reuters

CHICAGO, May 24 (Reuters) - Most of the children adopted internationally in the United States and Europe wind up better adjusted than those adopted in their birth countries, perhaps because their parents are more motivated and open-armed, a study said on Tuesday.

The finding from Dutch researchers based on a review of 55 years of international medical literature did find that children adopted from other countries have more contact with mental health services than their non-adopted peers but still less than children in domestic adoptions.

The authors said that rate of contact with mental health services could simply reflect the sophistication and wealth of the adopting parents.

The study from Leiden University in the Netherlands compared international adoptees, similar children who were not adopted and domestically adopted children.

The analysis found "the majority of international adoptees are well adjusted although more ... are referred to mental health services" than their non-adopted counterparts, the study said.

"Contrary to common opinion, international adoptees present fewer behavior problems than domestic adoptees, and they have lower rates of mental health referral," regardless of age, the study said.

The overall positive findings may come from the fact that parents adopting internationally "are highly motivated to raise children and they usually have ample opportunities to invest in their children's development because of their relatively high socioeconomic status."

It may also be that those parents are more up-front and honest because of obvious racial and ethnic differences from the start, leading to "more communication and trust in the family," the researchers said.

International adoptions are rising and currently involve more than 40,000 children moving among more than 100 countries each year, said the study, which was published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association.

"Before adoption, international adoptees often experience insufficient medical care, malnutrition, maternal separation, and neglect and abuse in orphanages," the report said.

In 2004 most of the nearly 23,000 children adopted internationally into the United States were from China, Russia, Guatemala, South Korea and Kazakhstan. Of the nearly 16,000 children coming to Europe in 2003 most were from China, Russia, Colombia, Ukraine and Bulgaria.

At the same time, domestic adoptions within the United States and Europe have declined since the 1970s, the researchers said. Only adoptions in Western countries were studied because not much research has been done in other parts of the world, the report said.