I found two recent news bits on International adoption, both of which are (seemingly) depressing, but reflect reality.

The first is this quiz by Dr. Joyce Brothers: "International Adoption is Not For Everyone" from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Not sure why she put it in a quiz format, but there you are. Here are the questions (the answers are true/false):

1. It is a myth that orphanages in other parts of the world are cold, sterile places where children receive very little individual attention.

2. It is best to adopt children who are very young -- under 2 or 3 years old -- because the institutional living or loss of parents has had less effect on them than on older children.

3. Institutionalized children will react to neglect or mistreatment by trying to comfort themselves with sometimes bizarre habits that can be hard to give up once adopted.

4. An area in which adoptive families and schools can have great success with formerly institutionalized children is that of communication skills.

5. The biggest obstacle to successful adaptation among international orphans is usually the difficulty they have in attaching emotionally to people because of the early neglect of their psychological needs.

6. Adoptive parents should assume that love will conquer all, and proceed with international adoptions with that credo set to cover any eventuality.

Answers: 1. False 2. True 3. True 4. True 5. True 6. False.

How'd you do? I got 5 out of 6 right. I flunked #4, but I think the terms "great success" and "communication skills" are kind of vague.

Here's another article from The Times Herald-Record Online, which serves the Hudson River Valley area of NY. Its title is "Foreign adoption often means unhealthy kids." Despite the bummer of a title this article is a really good little intro of what to expect (medically) when you are adopting from an institution. Although my son's health NOW is very good, when we got him he had some issues (malnutrition and anemia, as well as persistent diarrhea caused by malabsorbtion).

If you are just starting out and considering adopting internationally you definitely should read stories like these and take them to heart - of course we all hope we'll be the lucky ones whose kids are perfectly healthy and developmentally on-target, but the more you're aware of these issues before you adopt the better off you'll be after you adopt.