Study Suggests Telling Kids is Key

Two researchers from the Netherlands report that perhaps the reason for their findings that internationally adopted children have fewer behavioral problems and require fewer mental health services than domestically adopted children lies with their parents. The researchers, Femmie Juffer and Marinus H. van IJzendoorn of Leiden University, suggest that because of the differences inherent in international adoption, adoptive parents may be telling their internationally adopted children more fully and earlier about their origins and having been adopted than parents who adopt children domestically, creating a stronger and more trusting atmosphere.Recently, a few sensationalized stories in the press have apparently had a widespread effect on public perceptions of international adoption and it appears this was a major reason for the study. The researchers found that adopted children generally have more disruptive behavior and are more likely to receive mental health services than non-adopted children, but that within the group of adopted children, those adopted internationally fare better in these areas than those adopted domestically. The researchers studied materials gathered from 137 studies conducted over the period 1950-2005, concerning adoptions in the U.S., Australia, Canada, Europe, Israel, and New Zealand, and the findings are published in the May 24th issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).