Questions about RAD and Newborn Adoption

RAD can develop in any child. For a child to develop RAD, the child must perceive that his needs are not being taken care of. And the child must react to that belief by withdrawing from those he perceives should be taking care of him, and turning to himself for care, and turning to strangers in the hope of getting something he needs from them. It is DEFINITELY more common in children who were legitimately abused or neglected. In those cases, reality and the child's perceptions match, and everyone understands why the child developed RAD. But the child's *perception* is the important part. For instance, if the child is in the hospital, in pain, being poked by doctors, etc and he sees (even as an infant) that his parents are not stopping the pain - that child can develop an attachment disorder. Also for instance, a child could have a sensory disorder where he is extremely sensitive to touch and ordinary contact causes him pain. In that case his parents' loving caresses and touches actually hurt, and the child's perception is that of being abused, and he can develop an attachment disorder from that. And some children are simply more needy than others. Meeting a typical child's need for attention and affection but not meeting an individual child's super-high need for attention and affection can be perceived by that child to be neglect, and he could develop an attachment disorder as a result. Sometimes one child in a sibling group develops an attachment disorder when the others do not, even if they were treated the same - that's because individual needs and personalities contribute greatly to their perceptions and responses. I hope that helps. It's not a cut and dried issue, so many things can play into it. To answer your initial question - yes. A child who was born to good parents, who lived in a good foster home for 30 days, and who now lives in a good adoptive home - can still have RAD. It's just not common, but it can happen.

I also think it can come down to "parenting philosophy" and like the PP said, the particular needs of the child. So if parents were really part of the belief that the child should cry it out because their doctor told them that was best -- that could cause an attachment issue for a child with particularly sensitive attachment needs. I have also heard of attachment issues developing with kids with chronic health issues - like ear infections even. They are in chronic pain and their pain isn't being relieved - that can develop attachment needs. Also, honestly, how many caregivers did the child have in the first 30 days? My daughter came to me at 8 weeks of age, but had had at least 7 care givers (as a minimum). We were particularly aware that she had some pretty severe attachment needs that took months of constant attachment parenting to address --even though she was so young. I am not sure how she would have fared if I had not been educated and aware. Saying that -- I have an aunt that adopted a few generations ago 2 children from foster care. she was given NO information or advice or even education at all on what their particular needs would be. She tried her very, very best and they were a loving and capable couple -- and her kids failed to thrive and are adult sociopaths with zero attachment to her at all. And sometimes mental health issues develop that have no known cause. trying to "find" a cause can be a self defeating process.

RAD can develop in infants who are with and being cared for by their biological parents. It's not about a separation from a child's genetics, it's about how the child is cared for. It's also possible for the child to have developed RAD not from being separated from his/her birthparents, not from being in foster care, but from the care he/she received from his/her adoptive parents.

Well, sounds you've got a lot of good input already. And, unfortunately, there's not a one-size fits all answer to this question. But, it's good you're doing your research before potentially adopting a child-the more prepared you are the better! And, I've found a lot of good information on RAD and how it affects different ages on TCU's (Texas Christian University) Institute of Child Development website. Dr. Karyn Purvis heads this up and has done tons of research on this topic. So, it might be worth taking a look there and seeing what they have to say on a situation like this? Just a thought!

Yes. I was relinquished when i was a week old. But during that week, nurses tried to get my bmother to bond with me, over and over. So I was separated and then placed in her arms, where she was unresponsive towards me a few times a day, for that week. So I learned early on that I wouldn't be comforted and to be scared of attachment. I was then placed in a foster home for 5 weeks, and back then foster carers were advised not to comfort or show affection to babies in case of attachment. My sister and I, both relinqushed as babies, had many RAD symptoms. Also our adoptive mother didn't bond with us and neglected us. I also know of a young girl who had cancer as a baby, and spent a long time in hospital with many painful procedures, away from her mother. She has many RAD characteristics- anxious, hypervigilant, hyperactive, controlling, defiant.

I have an adult cousin who was adopted at birth by a very warm-hearted doctor and his wife. He grew up with lots of love, but also with a lot of over-indulgence. From his early days, he lied, showed no respect for people's property, manipulated others, and so on. Even relatives who didn't know about RAD recognized that he had no conscience. He subsequently turned to a life of crime -- bilking elderly investors of their savings, for one thing. Like many people with RAD, he began to misuse drugs and alcohol. He married -- totally convincing the young woman that he was a great guy -- then pretty much abandoned his wife with her newborn son, in order to travel the country with his schemes and his addictions. Arrested for felonies, he began making threats against the family of the judge who put him in prison, which earned him more prison time. Paroled at one point, he contacted all his relatives with an "Oh, poor me!" story, and tried to get us to take him in, give him housing and a job, introduce him to nice people, etc. None of the crime was his fault, according to him. And he had no intention of working at an honest job; since he could not become a lawyer (he'd gone to law school, but convicted felons cannot be lawyers) or truly learning from what happened. I don't know where he is now. I didn't respond to his letter, as I don't want such a person anywhere near me and my teenage daughter. His parents died, broken-hearted. They had tried, time after time, to get him therapy, get him into drug rehab, get him out of prison and into supportive services. Left a very large trust fund, he managed to access and use up all of it, despite the fact that it was professionally managed. My guess is that he's probably out looking for new money making schemes and bilking others. So, yes, RAD can be found in children adopted as newborns. And my guess is that it can be found in people who were not involved with adoption at all. Yes, experiencing the loss of trust in adults can be a cause, but the problem is much deeper than that. Sharon

Sharon, Thank you for sharing your cousin's story with me. What I'm wondering now is how often we may be mistaking signs of RAD with early signs of sociopathy, particularly in adoptees. It's difficult to sort out, I think. I often think we're witnessing a dramatic increase in the numbers of sociopaths in our society. Is RAD somehow on a spectrum with sociopathy? I know that some of the behavior I read about on these boards sounds sociopathic, but I don't think the medical community has done near enough research on it. There's so much about the human brain we just don't understand yet. I'm sorry your cousin put your aunt and uncle through so much grief. That's really heartbreaking to witness, and it must have been devastating for them.

I was adopted at 4 days of age and met all the diagnostic criterion for RAD as a child though it was not a common diagnosis at that point. I was more inhibited and self destructive than violent & angry. I am not, and am fairly certain that I will never become, a sociopath. In fact I am now considered completely "recovered" from Borderline Personality Disorder, which some refer to as the adult version of attachment disorders.From a psychological viewpoint RAD is an Axis 1 disorder while sociopath personalities are probably more likely to have a specific Axis II personality disorder--most likely Antisocial Personality Disorder or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. One could easily argue that presence of an Axis I disorder is common in later development of an Axis II diagnosis (such as the RAD to BPD theory). But I would be cautious about implying that anyone with an Axis I diagnosis is LIKELY to develop an Axis II diagnosis. Plus what is causation and what is correlation? Are sociopaths the way they are because of a brain disorder (nature) or environmental factors such as abuse, bullying, etc (nurture)? Of course most likely a combination of the two, just like any "disorder", but I would lean more toward environmental factors over a brain disorder. A predisposition may be present, but I doubt it would fully develop into true sociopathic tendencies without an environmental trigger. Though I am sure there are sociopaths out there who had idealistic childhoods I am guessing most did not.

I am not an expert, though I have read a lot on this stuff. However, one personal experience has really added to my understanding. They say that RAD is caused by Trauma. There are different types of trauma, and different people handle it differently. When my first bio son was born, they took him off to the side and cleaned him up. I was bleeding and they were trying to stop it, so they kept him off to the side and one of the nurses was trying to calm him because he was crying hysterically. My husband went over and talked to him, and he calmed a bit but still was crying, finally the nurse brought him to me and laid him on me and I started talking to him and stopped crying right away. It was like a switch had flipped. I realized he recognized my voice. So as I thought about it, I realized that he had been his entire life in this dark, warm, wet environment, with my voice as a part of the background, and of course my heartbeat. So suddenly he is painfully removed form that familiar enviroment, suddenly there is air instead of fluid, and light instead of dark and lots of voices that are not muffled and some are strange, plus he is being touched which is new, and everything is different, but my voice was familiar and calmed him. With my youngest who has been diagnosed with RAD, he had all that same birth stuff as my son, the new environment and stuff but also his first mom did not hold him or speak to him. He was whisked away because of problems and then she did not want to see him. So he also lost her voice. He spent three months at the hospital with nurses who changed twice a day, then a lot more happened that I wont go into. But, on day one he started life with a bunch of trauma and only got more and more for six years. The damage may have started that first day. So I think a sensitive kid like my oldest bio son seemed to be, would have already started withdrawing from the world in the first few days if they didn't find some consistency. Even someting as simple as "when I am hungry, I get fed, when I am wet I get changed, when I am cold I get wrapped up" might not be true for a child who is in a hospital where nurses are caring for several babies or in a foster scenario where the caregiver has been told to "not spoil" the baby, or "don't let the baby get attached to you" or if the baby was on a strict feeding and changing schedule. So, birth, loss of first mom, foster care and then a new mom might be enough trauma to cause it in some kids.