Editing Adoption (section)

==Parenting of adoptees==

===Parenting===
The biological relationship between a parent and child is important, and the separation of the two has led to concerns about adoption. The traditional view of adoptive parenting received empirical support from a [[Princeton University]] study of 6,000 adoptive, step, and foster families in the United States and South Africa from 1968 to 1985; the study indicated that food expenditures in households with mothers of non-biological children (when controlled for income, household size, hours worked, age, etc.) were significantly less for adoptees, step-children, and foster children, causing the researchers to speculate that people are less interested in sustaining the genetic lines of others.<ref>{{Cite journal| last1 = Case | first1 = A.| last2 = Lin | first2 = I. F.| last3 = McLanahan | first3 = S.| title = How Hungry is the Selfish Gene?| journal = The Economic Journal| volume = 110| issue = 466| pages = 781–804| year = 2000| doi = 10.1111/1468-0297.00565| s2cid = 11707574| url = http://www.princeton.edu/~accase/downloads/How_Hungry_Is_the_Selfish_Gene.pdf| doi-access = free}}</ref> This theory is supported in another more qualitative study wherein adoptive relationships marked by sameness in likes, personality, and appearance, were associated with both adult adoptees and adoptive parents reporting being happier with the adoption.<ref>L. Raynor, The Adopted Child Comes of Age, 1980</ref>

Other studies provide evidence that adoptive relationships can form along other lines. A study evaluating the level of parental investment indicates strength in adoptive families, suggesting that parents who adopt invest more time in their children than other parents, and concludes "...adoptive parents enrich their children's lives to compensate for the lack of biological ties and the extra challenges of adoption."<ref>{{cite web |last=Hamilton |first=Laura |title=Adoptive Parents, Adoptive Parents: Evaluating the Importance of Biological Ties for Parental Investment|work=American Sociological Review |url=http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Feb07ASRAdoption.pdf |access-date=3 June 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070221194844/http://www.asanet.org/galleries/default-file/Feb07ASRAdoption.pdf |archive-date = 21 February 2007}}</ref> Another recent study found that adoptive families invested more heavily in their adopted children, for example, by providing further education and financial support. Noting that adoptees seemed to be more likely to experience problems such as drug addiction, the study speculated that adoptive parents might invest more in adoptees not because they favor them, but because they are more likely than genetic children to need the help.<ref>{{Cite journal| last1 = Gibson | first1 = K.| title = Differential parental investment in families with both adopted and genetic children| journal = [[Evolution and Human Behavior]]| volume = 30| issue = 3| pages = 184–189| year = 2009| doi = 10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2009.01.001| bibcode = 2009EHumB..30..184G}}</ref>

Psychologists' findings regarding the importance of early mother-infant bonding created some concern about whether parents who adopt older infants or toddlers after birth have missed some crucial period for the child's development. However, research on [[The Mental and Social Life of Babies]] suggested that the "parent-infant system", rather than a bond between biologically related individuals, is an evolved fit between innate behavior patterns of all human infants and equally evolved responses of human adults to those infant behaviors. Thus nature "ensures some initial flexibility with respect to the particular adults who take on the parental role."<ref>{{cite book|last=Kaye|first=K|title=The Mental and Social Life of Babies|year=1982|publisher=Univ. Chicago Press|isbn=978-0226428482|pages=[https://archive.org/details/mentalsociallife0000kaye_a5t8/page/261 261]|url=https://archive.org/details/mentalsociallife0000kaye_a5t8/page/261}}</ref>

Beyond the foundational issues, the unique questions posed for adoptive parents are varied. They include how to respond to stereotypes, answering questions about heritage, and how best to maintain connections with biological kin when in an open adoption.<ref>A. Adesman and C. Adamec, Parenting Your Adopted Child, 2004</ref> One author suggests a common question adoptive parents have is: "Will we love the child even though he/she is not our biological child?"<ref>Michaels, Ruth, and Florence Rondell. The Adoption Family Book I: You and Your Child. Page 4.</ref> A specific concern for many parents is accommodating an adoptee in the classroom.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adoptionfilm.com/video.html |title=Adoptionfilm.org &#124; Messages from the Production Team |access-date=2006-03-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051231133955/http://www.adoptionfilm.com/video.html |archive-date=31 December 2005}} Adoption: An American Revolution</ref> Familiar lessons like "draw your [[family tree]]" or "trace your eye color back through your parents and grandparents to see where your genes come from" could be hurtful to children who were adopted and do not know this biological information. Numerous suggestions have been made to substitute new lessons, e.g., focusing on "family orchards".<ref>http://www.familyhelper.net/ad/adteach.html Robin Hillborn, Teacher's Guide to Adoption, 2005</ref>

Adopting older children presents other parenting issues.<ref>Grade School: Understanding Child Development and the Impact of Adoption http://adoption.com/wiki/Grade_School:_Understanding_Child_Development_and_the_Impact_of_Adoption {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106222520/http://adoption.com/wiki/Grade_School:_Understanding_Child_Development_and_the_Impact_of_Adoption |date=6 November 2014 }}</ref> Some children from foster care have histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, and are at risk of developing psychiatric problems.<ref name="Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, & Arnoff, (1996)">{{cite journal | last1 = Gauthier | first1 = L. | last2 = Stollak | first2 = G. | last3 = Messe | first3 = L. | last4 = Arnoff | first4 = J. | year = 1996 | title = Recall of childhood neglect and physical abuse as differential predictors of current psychological functioning | journal = Child Abuse and Neglect | volume = 20 | issue = 7| pages = 549–559 | doi=10.1016/0145-2134(96)00043-9 | pmid=8832112}}</ref><ref name="Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, (1993)">{{cite journal | last1 = Malinosky-Rummell | first1 = R. | last2 = Hansen | first2 = D.J. | year = 1993 | title = Long term consequences of childhood physical abuse | url = http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1098&context=psychfacpub| journal = Psychological Bulletin | volume = 114 | issue = 1| pages = 68–69 | doi=10.1037/0033-2909.114.1.68 | pmid=8346329}}</ref> Such children are at risk of developing a [[Attachment Theory#Attachment patterns|disorganized attachment]].<ref name="Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, (1999)">Lyons-Ruth K. & Jacobvitz, D. (1999) Attachment disorganization: unresolved loss, relational violence and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies. In J. Cassidy & P. Shaver (Eds.) Handbook of Attachment. (pp. 520–554). NY: Guilford Press</ref><ref name="Solomon & George, (1999)">Solomon, J. & George, C. (Eds.) (1999). Attachment Disorganization. NY: Guilford Press</ref><ref name="Main & Hesse, (1990)">Main, M. & Hesse, E. (1990) Parents' Unresolved Traumatic Experiences are related to infant disorganized attachment status. In M.T. Greenberg, D. Ciccehetti, & E.M. Cummings (Eds), Attachment in the Preschool Years: Theory, Research, and Intervention (pp161-184). Chicago: University of Chicago Press</ref> Studies by Cicchetti et al. (1990, 1995) found that 80% of abused and maltreated infants in their sample exhibited disorganized attachment styles.<ref name="Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Bruanwald, K., (1995)">Carlson, V., Cicchetti, D., Barnett, D., & Braunwald, K. (1995). Finding order in disorganization: Lessons from research on maltreated infants' attachments to their caregivers. In D. Cicchetti & V. Carlson (Eds), Child Maltreatment: Theory and research on the causes and consequences of child abuse and neglect (pp. 135–157). NY: Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref name="Cicchetti, D., Cummings, EM, Greengerg, MT, & Marvin, RS. (1990)">Cicchetti, D., Cummings, E.M., Greenberg, M.T., & Marvin, R.S. (1990). An organizational perspective on attachment beyond infancy. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & M. Cummings (Eds), Attachment in the Preschool Years (pp. 3–50). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.</ref> Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms,<ref name="Carlson, E.A. (1988)">{{cite journal | last1 = Carlson | first1 = E.A. | year = 1988 | title = A prospective longitudinal study of disorganized/disoriented attachment | doi = 10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06163.x| journal = Child Development | volume = 69 | issue = 4| pages = 1107–1128 | pmid=9768489| doi-access = free }}</ref> as well as depressive, anxious, and acting-out symptoms.<ref name="Lyons-Ruth, K (1996)">{{cite journal | last1 = Lyons-Ruth | first1 = K. | year = 1996 | title = Attachment relationships among children with aggressive behavior problems: The role of disorganized early attachment patterns | journal = Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology | volume = 64 | issue = 1| pages = 64–73 | doi=10.1037/0022-006x.64.1.64 | pmid=8907085| citeseerx = 10.1.1.463.4585 }}</ref><ref name="Lyons-Ruth, Alpern, & Pepacholi, (1993)">{{cite journal | last1 = Lyons-Ruth | first1 = K. | last2 = Alpern | first2 = L. | last3 = Repacholi | first3 = B. | year = 1993 | title = Disorganized infant attachment classification and maternal psychosocial problems as predictors of hostile-aggressive behavior in the preschool classroom | journal = Child Development | volume = 64 | issue = 2| pages = 572–585 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-8624.1993.tb02929.x| pmid = 8477635 }}</ref> "Attachment is an active process—it can be secure or insecure, maladaptive or productive."<ref>{{cite journal|title=Developmental Issues For Young Children in Foster Care|journal=Pediatrics|date=November 2000|volume=106|issue=5|pmid=11061791|doi=10.1542/peds.106.5.1145|pages=1145–50|s2cid=74279466 }}</ref> In the U.K., some adoptions fail because the adoptive parents do not get sufficient support to deal with difficult, traumatized children. This is a [[false economy]] as local authority care for these children is extremely expensive.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38764302 'I sent my adopted son back into care'] ''[[BBC]]''</ref>

Concerning developmental milestones, studies from the Colorado Adoption Project examined [[Heritability|genetic influences]] on adoptee maturation, concluding that cognitive abilities of adoptees reflect those of their adoptive parents in early childhood but show little similarity by adolescence, resembling instead those of their biological parents and to the same extent as peers in non-adoptive families.<ref name="Nature 1997">{{cite journal | last1 = Plomin | first1 = R. | last2 = Fulker | first2 = D.W. | last3 = Corley | first3 = R. | last4 = DeFries | first4 = J.C. | year = 1997 | title = Nature, nurture, and cognitive development from 1–16 years: A parent-offspring adoption study | journal = Psychological Science | volume = 8 | issue = 6| pages = 442–447 | doi=10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00458.x| s2cid = 145627094 }}</ref>

Similar mechanisms appear to be at work in the physical development of adoptees. Danish and American researchers conducting studies on the genetic contribution to [[body mass index]] found correlations between an adoptee's weight class and his biological parents' BMI while finding no relationship with the adoptive family environment. Moreover, about one-half of inter-individual differences were due to individual non-shared influences.<ref name="The New England Journal of Medicine">[[Albert Stunkard|AJ Stunkard]], An adoption study of human obesity, [http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/314/4/193 The New England Journal of Medicine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090304013739/http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/abstract/314/4/193 |date=4 March 2009 }} Volume 314:193–198, 23 January 1986</ref><ref name="International journal of obesity">Vogler, G.P., Influences of genes and shared family environment on adult body mass index assessed in an adoption study by a comprehensive path model, [http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3406929 International journal of obesity], 1995, vol. 19, no1, pp. 40–45</ref>

These differences in development appear to play out in the way young adoptees deal with major life events. In the case of parental divorce, adoptees have been found to respond differently from children who have not been adopted. While the general population experienced more behavioral problems, substance use, lower school achievement, and impaired social competence after parental divorce, the adoptee population appeared to be unaffected in terms of their outside relationships, specifically in their school or social abilities.<ref name="American Psychological Association">Thomas O'Conner, Are Associations Between Parental Divorce and Children's Adjustment Genetically Mediated?, [http://www.apa.org/journals/features/dev364429.pdf American Psychological Association] 2000, Vol. 36 No.4 429–437</ref>

Recent research has shown that adoptive parenting may have impacts on adoptive children, it has been shown that warm adoptive parenting reduces internalizing and externalizing problems of the adoptive children over time.<ref name="Paine">{{cite journal |author1=Amy L. Paine |author2=Oliver Perra |author3=Rebecca Anthony |author4=Katherine H. Shelton |title=Charting the trajectories of adopted children's emotional and behavioral problems: The impact of early adversity and postadoptive parental warmth |journal=Development and Psychopathology |date=Aug 2021|volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=922–936 |doi=10.1017/S0954579420000231 |pmid=32366341 |pmc=8374623 }}</ref> Another study shows that warm adoptive parenting at 27 months predicted lower levels of child externalizing problems at ages 6 and 7.<ref name="Reuben">{{cite journal |last1=Reuben |first1=Julia D. |last2=Shaw |first2=Daniel S. |last3=Neiderhiser |first3=Jenae M. |last4=Natsuaki |first4=Misaki N. |last5=Reiss |first5=David |last6=Leve |first6=Leslie D. |title=Warm Parenting and Effortful Control in Toddlerhood: Independent and Interactive Predictors of School-Age Externalizing Behavior |journal=Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology |date=August 2016 |volume=44 |issue=6 |pages=1083–1096 |doi=10.1007/s10802-015-0096-6|pmid=26496906 |pmc=5097859 }}</ref>

===Effects on the original parents===
Several factors affect the decision to release or raise the child. White adolescents tend to give up their babies to non-relatives, whereas black adolescents are more likely to receive support from their own community in raising the child and also in the form of informal adoption by relatives.<ref>Furstenburg, F.F. & Brooks-Gunn, J. (1985). Teenage childbearing: Causes, consequences, and remedies. In L. Aiken and D. Mechanic (Eds.), Applications of social science to clinical medicine and health policy (pp. 307–334). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.</ref> Studies by Leynes and by Festinger and Young, Berkman, and Rehr found that, for pregnant adolescents, the decision to release the child for adoption depended on the attitude toward adoption held by the adolescent's mother.<ref>as cited in {{cite journal | last1 = Kallen | first1 = D.J. | last2 = Griffore | first2 = R.J. | last3 = Popovich | first3 = S. | last4 = Powell | first4 = V. | year = 1990 | title = Adolescent mothers and their mothers view adoption | journal = Family Relations | volume = 39 | issue = 3| pages = 311–316 | doi=10.2307/584877| jstor = 584877 }}</ref> Another study found that pregnant adolescents whose mothers had a higher level of education were more likely to release their babies for adoption. Research suggests that women who choose to release their babies for adoption are more likely to be younger, enrolled in school, and have lived in a two-parent household at age 10, than those who kept and raised their babies.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Donnelly | first1 = B.W. | last2 = Voydanoff | first2 = P. | year = 1996 | title = Parenting versus placing for adoption: Consequences for adolescent mothers | journal = Family Relations | volume = 45 | issue = 4| pages = 427–434 | doi=10.2307/585172| jstor = 585172 }}</ref>

There is limited research on the consequences of adoption for the original parents, and the findings have been mixed. One study found that those who released their babies for adoption were less comfortable with their decision than those who kept their babies. However, levels of comfort over both groups were high, and those who released their child were similar to those who kept their child in ratings of life satisfaction, relationship satisfaction, and positive future outlook for schooling, employment, finances, and marriage.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Kalmuss | first1 = D. | last2 = Namerow | first2 = P.B. | last3 = Bauer | first3 = U. | year = 1992 | title = Short-term consequences of parenting versus adoption among young unmarried women | journal = Journal of Marriage and Family | volume = 54 | issue = 1| pages = 80–90 | doi=10.2307/353277| jstor = 353277 }}</ref> Subsequent research found that adolescent mothers who chose to release their babies for adoption were more likely to experience feelings of sorrow and regret over their decision than those who kept their babies. However, these feelings decreased significantly from one year after birth to the end of the second year.<ref name="Donnelly, B.W. & Voydanoff, P">Donnelly, B.W. & Voydanoff, P.</ref>

More recent research found that in a sample of mothers who had released their children for adoption four to 12 years prior, every participant had frequent thoughts of their lost child. For most, thoughts were both negative and positive in that they produced both feelings of sadness and joy. Those who experienced the greatest portion of positive thoughts were those who had open, rather than closed or time-limited mediated, adoptions.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Fravel | first1 = D.L. | last2 = McRoy | first2 = R.G. | last3 = Grotevant | first3 = H.D. | year = 2000 | title = Birthmother perceptions of the psychologically present adopted child: Adoption openness and boundary ambiguity | journal = Family Relations | volume = 49 | issue = 4| pages = 425–433 | doi=10.1111/j.1741-3729.2000.00425.x}}</ref>

In another study that compared mothers who released their children to those who raised them, mothers who released their children were more likely to delay their next pregnancy, to delay marriage, and to complete job training. However, both groups reached lower levels of education than their peers who were never pregnant.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = McLaughlin | first1 = S.D. | last2 = Manninen | first2 = D.L. | last3 = Winges | first3 = L.D. | year = 1988 | title = Do adolescents who relinquish their children fare better or worse than those who raise them? | journal = Family Planning Perspectives | volume = 20 | issue = 1| pages = 25–32 | doi=10.2307/2135594| pmid = 3371467 | jstor = 2135594 }}</ref> Another study found similar consequences for choosing to release a child for adoption. Adolescent mothers who released their children were more likely to reach a higher level of education and to be employed than those who kept their children. They also waited longer before having their next child.<ref name="Donnelly, B.W. & Voydanoff, P"/> Most of the research that exists on adoption effects on the birth parents was conducted with samples of adolescents, or with women who were adolescents when carrying their babies—little data exists for birth parents from other populations. Furthermore, there is a lack of longitudinal data that may elucidate long-term social and psychological consequences for birth parents who choose to place their children for adoption.