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Adopting An Older Child From Overseas:

What Supports Make It Easier?

 

OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY

This study invited parents who had recently become the parents of a child aged over 24 months from an overseas orphanage to complete questionnaires at two points in time - approximately three months after placement and a second questionnaire three months later. The study aimed to examine how the use of formal and informal sources of support affected parenting stress. Questionnaires were posted out to eligible participants by the adoption departments in Victoria, Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Western Australia and Queensland at varying times ranging from July 2006 (Victoria) to April 2007 (Queensland). Twenty parents completed all required materials at the two data collection points.


PARTICIPANTS

Nine of the twenty parents in this study were from New South Wales, 4 from Western Australia, 3 from Queensland, 3 from Victoria, and 1 from the Australian Capital Territory. Fifteen participants were mothers; five were fathers. Parents ranged in age from 36-40 (1 mother) to 56-60 (2 mothers, 1 father).

Parents’ responses related to 18 children; 15 girls and 3 boys. These children were adopted from China (6), Ethiopia (5), Philippines (3), and 1 each from Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, Thailand and India. The age of girls at placement ranged from 24 to 84 months (average 46 months), while the age of boys at placement ranged from 31 to 45 months (average 38 months). Time since placement ranged from 6 to 210 weeks for girls (average 64 weeks) and 20 to 83 weeks for boys (average 43 weeks).


SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

Despite substantial variation in the number of informal supports that parents reported, most parents were satisfied with the level of support that they received. Supports most commonly reported were partner, parents, family members and friends, but the church was rated as a significant provider of support by a few parents.


Parents were less positive about formal sources of support. Few formal supports had been utilised. While this lack of service utilisation was sometimes due to lack of perceived need, at other times it was attributed to inadequate knowledge of services or unavailability of suitable services. Parents who had approached professionals for support often reported that they were ill-informed about the needs of adopted children and issues such as attachment problems, and were therefore of little assistance. In contrast, some parents reported satisfaction despite their lack of formal supports because they did not perceive a need for such services.


Parents reported that they dealt with a variety of generally minor behaviour problems in their children without becoming overly stressed, depressed or anxious. This is perhaps reflective of the previously identified strengths of adoptive parents (e.g., Hamilton, Cheng & Powell, 2007; Marquis & Detweiler, 1985).

      

 South Australian research
The Experience of Adopting An Older Child From Overseas ~ South Australian Study:

SUMMARY OF STUDY

28 parents (13 fathers and 15 mothers) were interviewed about their experiences of adopting children aged more than 24 months from overseas institutions. Parents spoke of their experience of adopting 21 children (including 4 sibling groups). The children in this study came from orphanages in China, Ethiopia, India and Thailand, and were aged between 2 and 10 years when they entered their new families. They had been with their family from 1 to 11 years when their parents were interviewed. Consistent differences in experience between mothers and fathers were not evident. Most parents reported that adoption was a rewarding and challenging journey.


Contrary to findings of previous studies, the behavioural and emotional difficulties of children in this study were not clearly related to age at placement, length of institutional care or gender of child. Nearly all children displayed some challenging behaviours soon after placement but there was enormous variation in how long these lasted. The unpredictability of the adoptive experience and the challenges it raised led several parents to describe their experience as ‘quite a journey.’

THEMES

Six major themes emerged as representative of parents’ experiences: the initial meeting ('Finally it happened'), unpredictability ('It’s a lottery'), awareness of the child’s experience ('It’s incredible what they’ve been through'), self-discovery ('I found out things about myself'), sense of being judged ('You have to be seen to be coping') and recommendations for improvements to the process ('There are other needs').

The theme 'Finally it happened' highlighted the mixed feelings experienced by parents along the adoption journey - frustration at the time and scrutiny involved, and elation at finally meeting their children. The joy of meeting was complicated for parents by their sensitivity to their children’s fear and distress. :

'It’s a lottery' highlighted the unpredictability of the adoption process, both in the timing and outcome. Not only was the child that was placed often different from expectations, but also issues that subsequently emerged were often not predicted. In the first year most children displayed emotional and behavioural difficulties including tantrums, sleep problems and food issues. Despite difficulties, most parents considered themselves lucky; many parents believed that their child was ‘meant’ to be theirs. :

'It’s incredible what they’ve been through' expressed parents’ pain in recognising the traumatic, deprived and abusive situations to which their children had been subjected prior to placement. Despite traumatic pasts, children grieved loss of their biological parents, their culture or familiar aspects of life. Knowing how to discipline a child who was grieving or had previous traumatic experiences was difficult.:

The theme 'I found out things about myself' highlighted parents’ belief that parenting an older child revealed their faults and weaknesses in a way that previous life experiences had not done. Most mothers in this study took the lead role in parenting their children and were critical of themselves as parents, often blaming themselves for their children’s behaviour.

Parents believed 'You have to be seen to be coping', and those who did seek support were often disappointed by the outcomes. Several parents who did seek support found that professionals knew little about the needs of adopted children, and professionals were sometimes perceived as more ready to judge than assist.

'There are other needs' summarised the suggestions made by parents about how their experience could have been improved. Despite the infrequency with which parents used services, several parents stated a need for counselling services: for children and for parents individually and as couples.

      

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