Adverse Childhood Experiences of Children Adopted from Care: The Importance of Adoptive Parental Warmth for Future Child Adjustment

Anthony, Rebecca; Paine, Amy L.; Shelton, Katherine Helen

doi:10.3390/ijerph16122212

Cited by 47 publications

(59 citation statements)

References 84 publications

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“…At the W1 assessment, there was a median of 4 (range 2-7) people living in the household and most informants were in either full-time or part-time paid work (n = 72, 54.2%). Gross family income and education levels were substantially higher than the UK average (see [9]); 12% earned more than £75,000 per year and 37% had postgraduate degrees.…”

Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…This study was conducted in accordance with the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments. Ethical permission for the study was granted by the Research Ethics Committee for the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University and permission to access social work records was obtained from the Welsh Government (see [9] for more details).…”

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most adopted children in the UK are taken into care due to maltreatment within the birth family [8], and are likely to have experienced adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction than the general population [3,9]. Recent work revealed that over two-fifths of children adopted in a 1-year period experienced four or more ACEs [9], with such exposure linked to an increase in vulnerability for health risks across the life course, such as delinquency in adolescence [10] and poor psychological health, alcoholism, drug abuse, and suicide attempts in adulthood [11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children who are older at the time of adoption are more likely to experience psychological and behavioral problems, with children placed in their adoptive homes over the age of 4 being the most troubled [17,18]. Older children placed for adoption are likely to have entered care at an older age, to have accumulated more pre-placement risk factors, including ACEs, and are at greater risk for their adoptive placement breaking down, termed a disruption [9,19]. Although age at placement has been used to predict children's outcomes in recent work [20], age at adoption as a sole indicator of preadoptive adversity is problematic.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Early adversity predicts adoptees’ enduring emotional and behavioral problems in childhood

Paine

Fahey

Anthony

et al. 2020

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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Children adopted from the public care system are likely to experience a cluster of interrelated risk factors that may place them on a trajectory of mental health problems that persist across the life course. However, the specific effects of putative risk factors on children's mental health post-placement are not well understood. We conducted a prospective, longitudinal study of children placed for adoption between 2014 and 2015 (N = 96). Adoptive parents completed questionnaires at approximately 5, 21, 36, and 48 months post-placement. We used time series analysis to examine the impact of pre-adoptive risk factors [adverse childhood experiences [ACEs], number of moves, days with birth parents and in care] on children's internalizing and externalizing problems, and prosocial behavior over 4 years post-placement. Adoptees' internalizing and externalizing problems remained consistently high over the 4-year study period, but more ACEs predicted increases in internalizing and externalizing problems. Contrary to expectations, more pre-placement moves and time in care predicted fewer problems over time, but exploratory analyses of interactive effects revealed this was only the case in rare circumstances. We identify pre-and post-removal factors that may incur benefits or have a deleterious impact on adoptees' outcomes in post-adoptive family life. Our findings provide knowledge for front-line professionals in the support of adoptive families and underscore the vital need for effective early intervention.

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Section: Participantsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Early adversity predicts adoptees’ enduring emotional and behavioral problems in childhood

Paine

Fahey

Anthony

et al. 2020

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Most children adopted from the public care system will have experienced abuse and/or neglect within their birth family [7,27], and this may be compounded by experiences whilst in the public care system, such as experiences of repeated moves between foster carers. Children who are adopted when they are older are more likely to have experienced abuse and/or neglect and multiple placements associated with behavioral and emotional problems [28].…”

Section: Risk Factors For Depression and Anxiety In Adoptive Parentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms of British Adoptive Parents: A Prospective Four-Wave Longitudinal Study

Anthony

Paine

Shelton

2019

IJERPH

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The mental health of birth parents has gained attention due to the serious negative consequences for personal, family, and child outcomes, but depression and anxiety in adoptive parents remains under-recognized. Using a prospective, longitudinal design, we investigated anxiety and depression symptoms in 96 British adoptive parents over four time points in the first four years of an adoptive placement. Depression and anxiety symptom scores were relatively stable across time. Growth curve analysis showed that higher child internalizing scores and lower parental sense of competency at five months post-placement were associated with higher initial levels of parental depressive symptoms. Lower parental sense of competency was also associated with higher initial levels of parental anxiety symptoms. Parents of older children and those with higher levels of parental anxiety and sense of competency at five months post-placement had a steeper decrease in depressive symptoms over time. Support for adoptive families primarily focuses on child adjustment. Our findings suggest that professional awareness of parental mental health post-placement may be necessary, and interventions aimed at improving parents’ sense of competency may be beneficial.

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Coherent lives: Making sense of adoptees’ experiences in education through narrative identity

Brown,

Shelton

2023

British Educational Res J

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Children adopted from care become part of a hidden, but no less vulnerable, group in the education system and may be overlooked for allocation of additional support and guidance. Adoption is a relatively unique experience and adds layers of complexity, difference and vulnerability to young people's lives that are poorly understood and under‐researched. Adopted adolescents face significant challenges in social, emotional and behavioural aspects of school life. An attainment gap persists throughout their educational career. Adoptees are strikingly absent from many conversations regarding care‐experienced young people yet their needs and challenges are comparable with those of their peers remaining in the care system. Assumptions are made about adoptees’ opportunity and capacity to recover, concealing challenges faced in adjusting to adoptive life, including education. The impact of adoptees’ early experiences could lead to complex identity formation processes during adolescence, with potential implications for education experience and performance. This paper explores the potential of applying a narrative adoptive identity perspective to answer questions about how adopted children and young people experience school as an adopted person, i.e. how does their lived experience as an adopted member of a school community impact on their engagement with school, schoolwork and peer networks? The concept of ‘communicative openness’ is used to illustrate the vital role the school community plays in enabling adopted children to transition into and thrive in school. Taking a narrative adoptive identity approach may enable teachers to better meet adoptees’ specific learning and teaching needs as dictated by their unique experiences and enhance opportunities for better educational progress.

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Adverse Childhood Experiences of Children Adopted from Care: The Importance of Adoptive Parental Warmth for Future Child Adjustment

Cited by 47 publications

References 84 publications

Early adversity predicts adoptees’ enduring emotional and behavioral problems in childhood

Early adversity predicts adoptees’ enduring emotional and behavioral problems in childhood

Depression and Anxiety Symptoms of British Adoptive Parents: A Prospective Four-Wave Longitudinal Study

Coherent lives: Making sense of adoptees’ experiences in education through narrative identity

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