Content area
Full Text
Adoptive parents can be unprepared for challenging behaviors exhibited by their adopted children. Often, these behaviors stem from histories of trauma, and typical parenting practices can be ineffective, leaving parents overwhelmed and at risk of disrupting the adoption. This preliminar y study investigated the effects of implementing trauma-informed inter vention training with traditional post-adoption services. Results showed a reduction in children's psychiatric problems, as well as parents' own stress levels, when parents demonstrated an investment in the intervention model.
The goal for every adopted child is to gain parents that will love them unconditionally and make them a permanent family member. However, parents are often unprepared for the challenges of integrating a new child into their home, especially one who may be exhibiting unusual or unexplained behaviors that are unresponsive to typical parenting practices. This can leave adoptive parents feeling overwhelmed and hopeless about their own role as parents and about their chances of successfully incorporating the child into the family. Reports by adoptive parents have shown that adopted children have more difficulty functioning in the home, school, and community when compared to non-adopted peers (Howard, Smith, & Ryan, 2004; Smith & Howard, 1991).
There are approximately 136,000 adoptions annually in the United States, with 39% occurring through public child welfare agencies, 14% through foreign countries, and nearly half through other sources such as private agencies and tribes (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2011). Adoption disruption rates range from 10-25% in the United States, with variations based on population, geographic region, and other factors (Festinger, 2006; George, Howard, Yu, & Radomsky, 1997). Factors associated with disruption can be grouped into several categories. Children's factors include older age at adoption, presence of emotional and behavioral issues, strong attachment to birth mother, and pre-adoptive sexual abuse. Adoptive family factors include families beginning a new relationship with the child (as opposed to first fostering the child), lack of a social support system, unrealistic expectations, and interestingly, adoptive mothers with more education. Agency factors include having insufficient information about the child and his/her history; inadequate parental preparation, training, and support; non-continuity and changes in staff who prepare the child; having more caseworkers involved in the case; and providing insufficient services (see Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2012). However, research has...