Foreign adoptees seem to adjust better.

Foreign adoptees seem to adjust better
Study's results counter long-held beliefs
Lindsey Tanner - Associated PressWednesday,
May 25, 2005

Chicago --- They are often born in poverty and civil strife, abandoned, put in an orphanage, and then suddenly uprooted and sent to live an ocean away with strangers from another culture.

And yet, children adopted from abroad seem to adjust remarkably well, according to a new study that challenges the widely held notion that these youngsters are badly damaged emotionally and prone to disruptive behavior.

The analysis of more than 50 years of international data found that youngsters adopted from abroad are only slightly more likely than nonadopted children to have behavioral problems such as aggressiveness and anxiety.

They seem to have fewer problems than children adopted within their own countries.

"The first years of life should not be considered as inevitable destiny. On the contrary, most children grab the new chance offered to them," said researchers Femmie Juffer and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn of Leiden University in the Netherlands.

The results are generally reassuring for international adoption --- an increasing phenomenon involving more than 40,000 children a year moving among more than 100 countries, the researchers said.

The study appears in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.

The authors pooled results from 137 studies on adoptions by parents living in the United States, Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Israel. The analysis involved studies on adoption between 1950 and 2005, involving more than 30,000 adoptees and more than 100,000 nonadopted children.

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

But, they found that these children do well and are largely able to catch up with their nonadopted counterparts.

Over the past half-century, adoption has evolved from being a "shameful secret" to being celebrated and often very visible, especially with the relatively recent phenomenon of white parents adopting Chinese children, according to editorial author Dr. Laurie C. Miller of Tufts-New England Medical Center. In the United States alone, parents have adopted more than 230,000 children from other countries since 1989, she said.

Behavior problems were relatively uncommon among all children studied, but internationally adopted children had a 20 percent higher chance of being disruptive than nonadopted children, and a 10 percent higher chance of being anxious or withdrawn.

They also were twice as likely as nonadopted children to receive mental health services.

Children adopted within their own countries had an 36 percent higher chance of being anxious or withdrawn than the international adoptees did, and a 50 percent higher chance of being aggressive or disruptive, the study found.

These children also were four times more likely than nonadopted children and twice as likely as internationally adopted children to receive mental health services.

Also, domestically adopted youngsters had a 60 percent higher chance of having behavior problems than nonadopted children.

Some of the results probably reflect the parents who adopt foreign children, said Dr. Gregory Plemmons of Vanderbilt University's clinic for international adoptees.

These parents often are high-achieving and financially well off, and tend to seek out services like counseling for their children, Plemmons said.

Also, children adopted domestically may suffer from the instability of living with different foster families before adoption, Plemmons said.

News From Bucharest Concerning Children

The laws that Romania has put in place concerning international adoption and foreign agencies adding the children is starting to take a toll. The new child protection laws are more harmful than helpful. Here are two recent stories:

New Born in Garbage Dumpster

Sunday, May 15, a person from Galati made a grizzly discovery. In a garbage container in acommercial zone of the Micro 17 district, the body of a new born was discovered in a plastic bag. The municipal police were alerted. The body was transported to Forensic Medicine, but because of the advanced condition of putrification (decay), the forensic examiner was not able to determine the cause of death.

Tests were collected to make a more complete analysis, findings of the tests being sent to the Institute of Forensic Medicine "Mina Minovici". A team from the Service of Criminal Investigations from the Police County Inspector Bureau is investigating to determine the circumstances of how the newborn's body got into the container. Investigators must wait for the results of the anlysis in order to see if the fetus had or had not been viable (could or could not have survived).

INDIFFERENT PARENTS?

Gabriel Bolocan, the little boy found Saturday (May 14) in the outdoor market in the Micro 17 district, remains at the Emergency Receiving Center "Irene and Stuart" on Radu Negru Street in Galati. From Saturday until today (Wednesday May 18) not one person has sought the little boy at the Center, no one has called the Child Protection Services, no one has even called one sector of Police. "This fact worries us," delcared Tania Calcan, spokesperson for the bureau of DGASPC (I assume this is the child protection services). "How is it possible that parents aren't looking for this little boy after all this time? In the event that we aren't able to track down the family, we will institute an emergency measure of placement for Gabriel with a maternal assistent," said Tania Calcan.

We remind you, the little boy has brown hair, hazel eyes and is about 3 1/2 years old, and when he was found he was dressed in clean clothes. The opinion of the inspector at Child Protection services is that Gabriel is from a well-organized family.

Romanian health system thrown into crisis

Romanian health system thrown into crisis
By Alexandru Alexe, Associated Press Writer May 13, 2005

BUCHAREST, Romania -- Romanian pharmaceutical wholesalers announced Friday they were joining medical supplies sellers in a boycott of indebted hospitals, throwing the Romanian health system into its deepest crisis since the country shook off Communism in 1989.

The Association of Drug Distributors and Importers and the Association of Romanian Drug Suppliers, two groups representing most companies on the drug market, said they could no longer grant credit to hospitals.

The groups claim that 90 percent of hospitals have unpaid bills, which amount to over euro200 million (US$260 million) in unpaid bills. The crisis is caused by chronic underfunding of the health system in recent years.

Moreover, a recent auditors' report found that the previous government misspent 22,000 billion lei (US$780 million, euro600 million) in funds collected for health insurance on other priorities.

The drugs boycott is to begin on Monday, and suppliers said they were also cutting off indebted pharmacies. Most pharmacies already refuse to fill prescriptions under the state health insurance plan. Distributors said they have agreed to cut prices on some drugs, but want the government to make a firm commitment to pay the debts.

In addition, health workers' unions are threatening to strike next week, and called on the government to allocate more funds to the health system.

Prime Minister Calin Popescu Tariceanu said Thursday the health system was having "grave problems," that were caused "by poor management of funds."

He pledged to "find solutions to rehabilitate the health system."

The Health Ministry announced it was taking over deliveries of medical supplies through state-owned companies to ensure that hospitals continue to operate.

Health Minister Mircea Cinteza has said the government was making efforts to pay past debts to suppliers and called on them to continue deliveries.

Since Communism fell in 1989, Romania has struggled to reform its antiquated health system and poor management and a chronic lack of funds has led to periodic shortages of drugs and medical supplies.