Health of Children Adopted From the Former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe

Abstract

Preadoptive medical records from these international adoptees included multiple diagnoses suggesting severe neurologic impairment. Although these diagnoses were not confirmed when the children were evaluated in the United States, substantial growth and developmental delays were identified.

Intestinal Parasite Screening in Internationally Adopted Children: Importance of Multiple Stool Specimens

“…Several studies have described the prevalence of Giardia intestinalis in internationally adopted children with varying prevalences depending on the birth countries studied. [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Other studies have investigated whether examining multiple stool specimens increases the likelihood of pathogen identification. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] None of these studies have examined whether there is a benefit in testing additional specimens based on gastrointestinal symptoms.…”

Vision and Hearing Deficits and Associations with Parent-Reported Behavioral and Developmental Problems in International Adoptees

“…11, 12 Additionally, the landscape shifted as the majority of children came from countries that relied on institutional rather than foster care prior to adoption. Knowledge of problems affecting international adoptees evolved during this period to include poor growth 6, 13–16 and a high risk of prenatal alcohol exposure. 18–22 Other problems noted included recognition of a high prevalence of developmental delays, 6, 13, 16, 23, 24 sensory processing problems 25, 26 and emotional and behavioral issues.…”

“…36 From 1994 to the present, recommendations published by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) consistently supported post-arrival hearing and vision screening for international adoptees. 37, 38 However, while sporadic cases of hearing and vision losses have been reported, 5, 10, 13, 15, 16, 23, 39, 40 data from a screened cohort are lacking. This study investigates the occurrence and nature of hearing and vision problems in two separate groups of international adoptees and explores the hypothesis that these problems are important independent risk factors that could alter the lifecourse of a child by putting him/her at risk for developmental, emotional and behavioral sequelae that may persist to adulthood.…”

Examining the primary school experiences of intercountry adoptees : perspectives of adoptive parents and children

“…Early studies provided evidence of adverse outcomes for children adopted from highly depriving institutions in Romania and the former Soviet Union (Johnson et al, 1992;Groze & Ileana, 1996;Albers, Johnson, Hostetter, Iverson, & Miller, 1997).…”

“…While some distinctions have been made between the long-term educational and behavioural outcomes for children reared in better quality orphanages in some Asian countries (Dalen, 2002;Tan et al, 2007Tan et al, , 2010, the majority of studies have focused predominantly on the adoption of children from significantly deprived institutions in Eastern Europe (Albers et al,. 1997;Groza & Ryan, 2002, Groze & Ileana, 1996Gunnar et al, 2007;Johnson et al, 1992;Miller & Hendrie, 2000;Wilson, 2003).…”