Romanian Adoptees and Pre-adoptive Care: A Strengths Perspective

Abstract

Ninety-one parents of 120 adopted Romanian children who were part of a longitudinal study were surveyed to determine perceptions of their relationships with their children, their adoption experiences, and the children's strengths. The Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS) was used and parents were easily able to rate their children's emotional and behavioral strengths. Levels of parentchild relationship satisfaction were the most consistent predictors of child emotional and behavioral strength. The child's age at the time of the survey was a significant predictor of strengths, indicating overall that younger children had more perceived strengths. Parents identified fewer strengths among children with longer histories of institutional care. The importance of a strong parent-child relationship and resilience after a history of early institutional care are discussed.

Adopted Chinese Girls’ Character Strengths from Preschool to School Age: A Longitudinal Exploratory Study

“…Another key variable to consider in adoption research is the age at which the child is adopted. Among Romanian adoptees, children adopted after 24 months were at greater risk for higher levels of problem behaviors (Meese, 2005) and lower levels of behavioral and emotional strengths (Pearlmutter et al, 2008). Nevertheless, age at adoption in this sample was only predictive for Courage, with only a relatively trivial increase in likelihood of occurrence.…”

“…Instead, existing studies mostly used a deficit-based approach to examining the problematic development of IA children with early orphanage rearing (see meta-analysis by . One exception was a strength-based study by Pearlmutter, Ryan, Johnson, and Groza (2008) who found children (with a mean age of 10 years old) adopted from Romania to have above average intrapersonal and affective strength. In view of the limited number of studies that have explored the character strengths of the adopted children, there is a need for a strength-based approach in studying post-adoption development.…”

In an Era of Reform

“…This is not particularly surprising given research ethics and the need for deep exploration of meaning with vulnerable populations, especially with international contexts and cross-cultural research. The exception to this was research in child development and institutionalization, identity formation and adjustment of adoptees, and adoptive parenting (e.g., Groza, 1999; Pearlmutter et al, 2008; S. D. Ryan & Groza, 2004) in which quantitative research incorporated larger data sets and standardized measures in addition to development of scales for measurement (Massatti et al, 2004; Mohanty, 2010).…”

“…Important investigations include identity development of Korean adoptees and family life (e.g., Bergquist, 2004;Bergquist, Campbell, & Unrau, 2003;Bergquist, Vonk, Kim, & Feit, 2007;Kim, 1977;McGinnis, in press;Yoon, 2004), including the rarely researched topic of openness in ICA (Hayes & Kim, 2007). Also, there are important research results in the literature related to child transition from country of origin to the new adopted home and child development, including the institutional experience, especially in Romania (e.g., Gavrilovici & Groza, 2007;Groza, 1999;Pearlmutter, Ryan, Johnson, & Groza, 2008;S. D. Ryan & Groza, 2004).…”

“…The severity of institutional care the majority of Romanian children experienced pre-ICA provided fertile ground for exploring lasting effects of institutionalization. Several studies explore the link between parent–child relationship satisfaction and consistent predictors of child emotional and behavioral strength (Pearlmutter et al, 2008).…”