From International Adoption: How to Choose a Country:

7. Consider the child’s life before adoption.

If you proceed with an international adoption, the child you adopt will most likely be living in either a foster care situation or an orphanage before the adoption. Where your child lives before the adoption can affect both your child’s physical and emotional health.

Attachment disorders are a very real risk when you adopt a child internationally, particularly from an orphanage. Of course, not every child adopted internationally has an attachment disorder. I know an adoptive family who adopted both children from Romania. Even though both children lived in an orphanage before the adoption, they are bonded with their parents and exhibit no emotional issues from the experience.

The more a child was able to bond with a caregiver, the less likely the child is to have attachment issues. See the following posts for more on post-institutional issues:

• How To Prepare For Post-Institutional Issues



• Attachment Risks

Some countries have moved away from orphanages and set up foster care for the children who are awaiting adoption. Others have a lower caregiver to child ratio, which helps to facilitate bonding.

The other reasons [we adopted from Cambodia] were that very young infants were available, the process was fairly quick, and there were two children to every caregiver so the children received a lot of attention, love and affection. The children bonded with their caregivers, which was explained to us as being a very good thing. - An adoptive mother who adopted from Cambodia

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If the child was never held, then the child is more likely to struggle with attaching to his parents. I have heard horror stories of orphanages where workers only touched the children to change their diapers, even propping the bottles rather than holding the babies when they were fed. As we have come to understand more about attachment issues, more steps have been taken in many countries to encourage children to bond with their caregivers.

The children can also experience physical difficulties, depending upon where they live before the adoption. If the orphanage does not provide a balanced diet, the child’s growth can be affected. If malnourishment is a risk factor for the country you are considering, be sure to talk with a pediatrician about the health risks in adopting a child who has been malnourished.

Related Topics:

• How to decide to adopt internationally



• How to evaluate adoption options



• How to Evaluate the Different Types of Adoption



• Choose a Country



• International Adoption blog