Early Life Deprivation

Foster Care and Adoption are the most multi-faceted areas of child welfare. Foster care consists of placing children outside of the custody of their parents or legal guardians. This out-of-home placement can be temporary or long-term. Adoption on the other hand, consists of the legal and permanent process that establishes a parent/child relationship between individuals not related biologically (Downs, Moore, & McFadden, 2009). These two areas of child welfare are constantly evolving and the decisions made on a child’s behalf can affect many areas of their biological, spiritual, social, and emotional wellbeing.

In this research they took out a longitudinal study. They studied 65 children which were placed in an institution when less than four months, which had all experienced early privation. By 4 years old, 24 children had been adopted, 15 returned to their natural homes and the rest remained in the institution. It was found that the adopted children had closer attachments to their parents and had good family relationships and this was not the case for the ‘restored’ children.

Most youth in foster care have traumatic family histories and life experiences (including the removal from their birth family) that result in an increased risk for mental health disorders. A study of children in foster care revealed that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was diagnosed in 60% of sexually abused children and in 42% of the physically abused children (Dubner & Motta, 1999). The study also found that 18% of foster children who had not experienced either type of abuse had PTSD, possibly because of exposure to domestic or community violence (Marsenich, 2002).

Although foster care can be a great system by providing kids with homes, sometimes we don’t see what’s happening behind the closed doors. The children that enter the “system” typical have experience or will experience emotional or physical trauma that impacts their development. If children’s mental states are not properly

Children enter the foster care system for a multitude of different reasons, some being, poverty, substance abuse, domestic violence, and their parents being convicted of crimes and being sent to jail (“The Future of Children”). All of these reasons listed lead to significant developmental issues for many children. The first five years of any child's life is a crucial period for development both intellectually and physically, and development continues until around the age of fourteen years old. Many of the children enter the foster care system during this crucial phase which causes, according to Brenda Jones Harden, “impairments in their physical health, cognitive development, academic achievement, interpersonal relationships, and mental

Adoptive Families are special; they have a desire to grow their families by reaching out to children that need homes. These families face many unique challenges, but also receive many rewards, associated with the decision to adopt. These challenges continue for many families, through the process of adoption, legal finalization, and for many years post-adoption. The challenges are different in many ways from those faced by biological parents. Adoptive parents not only face the normal challenges faced from raising a child, but also the psychological issues of the child/ren adopted. Some children placed for adoption have social, psychological, or physical problems that many adoptive families may not be able to address. Previous research has shown an association between post adoption services and successful adoptive placements. “Post adoption services often respond to the effects that separation, loss, and trauma can have on children and youth who have been adopted. They can facilitate adjustment processes; promote child, youth, and family well-being; and support family preservation” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2012). It is because of these issues, and many others, that placement agency must consider when providing wrap around services for families.

To start, little is actually known about the importance and effect of timing of poverty on children’s psychological development. Economic deprivation during different phases and time frames of childhood can also alter the outcome of the child. Studies that have been done about children's early cognitive and physical development suggest that family income in the first five years of life has the most

The study of the developmental implications of early trauma for children is essential for understanding appropriate expectations and interventions for children to help foster and adoptive families and child welfare workers maintain appropriate expectations for children who have been adopted and better equip them to meet their children’s unique needs. Considering that children who have experienced traumatic removal from a primary caregiver are likely to exhibit behaviors that lead to placement breakdowns and therefore more traumatic removals from caregivers, it is essential for positive long term outcomes that the initial placement and child’s existing connections be preserved (Newton, R. R., Litrownik, A. J., & Landsverk, J. A., 2000). Additionally, foster parents who hold appropriate expectations and understand causes and reasons for a child’s behavior is predictive of placement stability (Butler & Charles, 1999).

According to the Children, Youth, and Families Office (Winter 2012) the CYF news discusses the significance of mental health effects on youth in foster care. Understandably so, youth in foster care are susceptible to maladjustment due to their exposure to events that have led to the removal from their homes and the foster care process. Evidence suggests that youth in foster care exhibit both short and long-term, clinically substantial mental health issues that are rarely reviewed (CYF, 2012, p.1).

Per the authors, the results of this study found that most of the adolescents experienced one traumatic incident while in the foster care system. The trauma linked to PTSD most of often are torture, molestation, and/or rape. The results also indicated that males typically suffer from violence and trauma among their close surrounding, and females are most likely to experience sexual assault. This study concluded that youth in the foster care system have higher rates of PTSD than the general population of their peers. The future for these youths is also likely to be negatively impacted by the time become independent at the age of 18. Aging out of the foster care system to a rough independence is most likely to impact the traumatic experiences already endured by the participants. About 30 percent of the participants, experience extreme trauma at 16, which does not leave much time for recovery or coping. There is far less research in the foster care system than that of the general population when it comes to traumatic experiences. Future research should be directed to look at the

Many foster children are facing an increased risk of behavior and mental problems (“Perceived Mental Health, 1). Foster children are vulnerable to neurocognitive delays that can hinder them from developing at the average rate of a child in a permanent home, such as poor memory skills, poor visuospatial process, and small language capacity (Leve, 1). These psychological problems are found in approximately half of the children that are adopted or released from the foster system (Lawrence, 3). How does placing children in foster care affect their mental development and behavior? This study will analyze the psychological effects that children face when they are placed in foster care.

In many cases of neglect, there has been an association with the brain failing to form appropriately. This causes impaired physical, mental, and emotional development (DePanfilis, 2006). A child's brain learns to adapt to a less than positive environment and this stunts the process of normal development. The brains of neglected children are not integrated and this causes difficulties in emotional, social, and cognitive development. The sensitive period, during the first two years of life, is a critical time in which brain activity faces severe psychosocial deprivation if faced with neglect and is unlikely to be recovered (Vanderwert, Marshall, Nelson III, Zeanah & Fox, 2010).

These findings were evident when deprived orphans from Romania were adopted to amorous families living in the United Kingdom. Following the adoption, cognitive and physical growth increased. These children had the ability to continue their growth through wise choices, enhanced education, and take advantages of new opportunities (Alvord & Grados, 2005). Finally, Berger (2008) explains “Adversity must be significant. Some adversities are comparatively minor (large class size, poor vision), and some are major (victimization, neglect). Looking at adversity from a humanistic perspective we need to recognize individual differences, such as culture, gender, and emotional experiences. Keep in mind, resilience is not a personality trait, it is a process.

It is well know that foster Children have a very hard time finding a permanent home and adjusting to their new home. The majority of foster children go through this process of finding a home at a very young age. For most of these children it occurs during very young age which is the most important time for develop mental processes. Therefore foster children are at risk of cognitive and social- emotional development delays. (Jacobson et. al 2013). As mentioned in the article “research has underscored the importance of early, nurturing caregiver environments on brain development, and the importance of positive brain-environment interaction during the first 2 years of life has also been documented by research on foster care and adoption”(Jacobson et. al 2013). The article currently looks at, specifically the issue of foster children’s cognitive development and social- emotional functioning specifically of children ages between 2 to 3 years of age. There has been previous research done on this article. A research done to look at this issue was one done in Romanian were 136 institutionalized children were randomly selected. These children were selected to continue to be institutionalized or placed in foster care. In this study, the foster parents were selected and trained,

There was a marked catch-up in psychological functioning for these children in the first few years after adoption, however, significant problems continued in a substantial minority of the children placed after the age of 6 months (Rutter, Colvert, Kreppner, Beckett, Groothues, Hawkins, O’Connor, Stevens, Sonuga-Burke, 2007a). At age 11 quasi-autistic patterns were seen in over 1 in 10 of the children who experienced profound institutional deprivation (Rutter, Kreppner, Croft, Murin, Colvert, Beckett, Castle, Sonuga-Burke, 2007b).