Need & Response
- U.N. estimate of the number of orphans in the world today:
145 million
- Number of children in the foster care system in the United States: Approximately 500,000
- Number of children in the foster care system waiting to be adopted: Approximately 130,000
- Number of caring adults it takes to make a lasting impact in the life of an orphan: 1
Consequences of Adoption
The fears fanned by the movie Orphan reflect natural concerns many parents have regarding the long-term impact of adoption. How will adopted kids turn out? How would adoption affect our family?
Adopted children and their futures vary as much as biological children do. But studies show definitively that the fears stoked by a movie like Orphan are not supported by the data. In fact, the opposite is most often true.
- An expansive 1994 study by the Search Institute comparing adopted teens to other teens found that:
- Adopted teens scored higher on indicators of well-being such as school performance, friendships, volunteerism, self-esteem and optimism.
- Adopted teens scored lower on indicators of high-risk behavior such as depression, alcohol use, vandalism, and police trouble.
- Compared to their non-adopted siblings, adopted teens showed no significant difference in their perception of similarities between themselves and adoptive parents in terms of interests.
- Children adopted transracially showed no differences in terms of identity formation and self-esteem, attachment to parents, or psychological health.
- Many other studies have reached similar findings. These include:
- Adopted children are well-integrated into their families and schools and show good psychological outcomes. There are few differences between children who have been adopted and their non-adopted peers (Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval, 2005)
- Long-term outcomes are positive for adopted children, and generally show little or no difference compared to non-adopted children (Benson, 2004).
- The vast majority of adopted children show behavior patterns and emotional and academic adjustment very similar to those of non-adopted children (Palacios and Sanchez-Sandoval, 2005, Vrand and Brinich, 1999, Brodzinsky, 1987).
- Numerous studies indicate that adoptive parents report high levels of satisfaction with their adoption (Barth and Brooks, 2000).
- People who were adopted fare significantly better than those children who remain in negligent, abusive birth families, or in foster care or institutions (Maughan et al., 1998, Brodzinsky et al., 1998).
- If adopted individuals did experience adoption-related struggles, most of these struggles significantly diminished or disappeared by young adulthood (Feigelman, 1997).
- People who were adopted reported more confidence in their judgment than non-adopted persons, viewed others more positively, and saw their parents as significantly more nurturing, comforting, and protectively concerned and helpful (Marquis and Detweiler, 1985).
With thanks to the National Council for Adoption’s Consider the Possibilities: Adoption Liaison Workbook for an excellent list of adoption research.
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