https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(02)09674-5.pdf

Suicide, psychiatric illness, and social maladjustment in intercountry adoptees in Sweden: a cohort study.

Considerable debate has arisen in the professional literature regarding the possibility of increased psychological risk in adopted children compared with nonadopted children. A selective review of the literature indicates that, although most adoptees are well within the normal range of functioning, as a group they are more vulnerable to various emotional, behavioral, and academic problems than their nonadopted peers living in intact homes with their biological parents. Methodological problems associated with adoption research are discussed, and a new conceptual model of adoption adjustment is offered.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/1602410.pdf

Long-term Outcomes in Adoption

This article deals with the problem of breakdown in different types of out-of-home care (foster care/residential care) for Swedish teenagers. How often are such placements prematurely terminated against the wishes and intentions of child welfare authorities? Which factors appear to increase or decrease the risk of placement breakdown? The sample consists of a national cohort of 776 youths who started 922 placements during 1991. Every placement was followed in municipal case files for a maximum period of five years.

 Between 30 and 37% of all placements were prematurely terminated, the exact figure depending on whether a narrow or wide definition of breakdown was applied. The lowest rates of breakdown were found in kinship care and secure units, the highest in non-kinship foster homes. Teenagers who display antisocial behaviour and/or have mental health problems constitute a high-risk category for most types of out-of-home care, but especially in non-kinship foster homes. Risk factors in relation to breakdown were analysed in the four main forms of Swedish out-of-home care separately (foster homes, privately/publicly run residential care and secure units). The analysis pointed out that risk factors are not the same in all types of care, but antisocial behaviour at time of placement increased the risk in most forms of care.

Prior research indicates that placement breakdown is a major problem of child welfare in other countries, and this study found that Sweden is no exception.

Breakdown of teenage placements in Swedish foster and residential care

Seven hundred ninety-nine parents who adopted children with special needs responded to a mailed questionnaire probing child behavior, parent-child relationship, school performance, helpfulness of social work and other services, and the impact of the adoption on the family. About three-quarters of the parents reported positive impact; most were also positive in their assessments of social work services. Latency-age and adolescent adoptees, but not preschool children, demonstrated substantial behavioral problems. Acting-out, aggressive behavior as contrasted with withdrawn, inhibited behavior was strongly related to the impact of the adoption. Results are promising for minority children, for less wealthy and less educated adoptive families, and for adoptions by single parents and foster parents.

Special-Needs Adoption: A Study of Intact Families

Since the late 1990s, US, UK and Canadian policy have increasingly focused on improving permanency outcomes for looked-after children. Although the ideal permanency outcome of reunification is attained for about half of the children entering out-of-home care, an increasing number of children are adopted each year. The vast majority of adoptions are stable and secure, but concerns about adoption disruption haunt child welfare workers when making this important permanency decision. Despite a variety of definitions employed in the literature, adoption disruption is a general term used to describe the failure or breakdown of an adoptive child’s placement. Studies dating back to the 1970s have reported adoption disruption rates and the characteristics associated with those involved in such cases. This paper reviews available research, principally from the United States, and offers possible explanations for the wide range of reported disruption rates in the literature. After reviewing the research, practice implications for improving adoption outcomes and suggestions for future research are presented.

/pdf/research-review-in-a-rush-to-permanency-preventing-adoption-4uqom30p58.pdf

Jane Conner

Papers

Predictors of special needs adoption disruption: An exploratory study☆