Greetings Benfranklin:
I have found numerous reference to both parents and biological
siblings in relation to your query. I've also included some "other
links that may be of interest" below for you to examine for relevancy.
Mental Health of Adoptive Parents
http://www.angelfire.com/or/originsnsw/adopters.html
Biological siblings of an adopted child (this discusses parental
behavior as well)
http://www.fairfamilies.org/newsfromfair/1993/93SmrVoicesSiblings.htm
Adopting When You Have Biological Children
http://www.frua.org/considering/adptwhen_c.html
Non Bonding, this is my story...
http://www.adoptionforums.com/t33513,15,1.html
Please read all the posts in this thread.
Post Adoption Depression - the unacknowledged hazard
http://www.eeadopt.org/home/services/research/pad_survey/
The Social Construction of Adoption
http://www.socsci.mcmaster.ca/sociology/ faculty/Miall-Adoption.pdf
"The physical readjustment is missing with an adoptive child. Bonding
during pregnancy is missing in adoption. The adoptive parent needs
psychological and social information [about] why feelings are not what
you expect they would have been. Similarly, a male respondent
observed, "They are different because of the biological facts of the
situation. Social bonds are not the same as are biological ones"
Please read this entire piece.
This reference at http://www.childandfamilystudies.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?c=112
"O'Connor et al. study (from the Colorado Adoption Project), evidence
for "evocative" gene-environment correlation, in which adopted
children who were biologically at risk for being more antisocial
(i.e., their biological mothers were high in antisocial behavior)
elicited/evoked more hostile/negative parenting behavior from their
adoptive mothers, which itself promotes even more antisocial behavior
in the children"
This reference from http://home.att.net/~judy.kelly/SReferences.htm
"Smith, B., Surrey, J., & Watkins, M. (1998) "Real" mothers: Adoptive
mothers resisting marginalization and re-creating motherhood."
Adoption Projects - Attachment Studies
http://www.childandfamilystudies.leidenuniv.nl/index.php3?m=140&c=111&garb=0.2766583052225763&session=
The Absurdity of Family Love - Yes, it's natural and deeply
biological. Still, it's muddled by Robert Wright and Randy Cohen
http://slate.msn.com/id/2018/
"It is good news for adoptive parents that neither genetic
relationship nor conscious awareness of genetic relationship is a
prerequisite for love. Still, it is bad news that maternal bonding
begins with hormones at birth. It is also bad news that
breast-feeding, which adoptive mothers usually can't do, releases the
bonding hormone oxytocin. Then again, there is no reason in principle
that adoptive parents couldn't take Pitocin once a day for synthetic
bonding sessions."
THEORETICAL RATIONALE - for the TREATMENT of DISORDERS of ATTACHMENT
Victoria J. Kelly Psy.D.
http://www.attach.org/Research/theoretical__rationale.htm
Adoption and the stages of development
http://www.calib.com/naic/pubs/f_stages.cfm
Bonding
http://www.midwiferytoday.com/enews/enews0308.asp
"Studies have demonstrated that babies can distinguish their mother's
face from other women's faces virtually from birth; that they turn
toward pads soaked in their mother's breastmilk and not toward those
of other women; that adopted babies know very well that their adoptive
mothers are not their biological mothers and struggle with their
emotions when this is not acknowledged by the adoptive parents,
especially those who assume that because they are ready to love their
new baby, their baby will be equally ready to love them--rather than
crying inconsolably and grieving the loss of the mother s/he has spent
nine months bonding with, experiencing every emotion of the biological
mother (transmitted via hormones through the blood supply)."
How Does Permanent Parenting Differ from Biological Parenting?
http://hnb.dhs.vic.gov.au/commcare/yafs_su.nsf/TOC/99371BB09FF853D24A256B12001E464B
"While the rewards of parenting are very similar, there are additional
complexities for parents of a non-biological child. There may be
complications with bonding and attachment. For example, with infant
placements, the bonding and attachment process may be complicated by
the long waiting period prior to placement, the lack of opportunity to
form a relationship with the child before birth, and possible anxiety
about the legal security of the relationship. Bonding and attachment
is further complicated when an older child is placed. Older children
may have difficulties in developing relationships as a result of past
experiences (such as abuse or neglect) that limit their ability to
trust and relate to caregivers. An additional difficulty relates to
the need for non-biological parents to assist the child in feeling
secure about their status. During the toddler and preschool period, it
is important to permanent parents to tell the child of their status
and create an atmosphere in which free discussion about adoption and
permanent care can take place. As the child grows older, issues may
arise as they begin to cope with concerns and confusions about their
status. While adolescence is a demanding time for most parents, there
may be particular demands for non-biological parents. The adopted
person in adolescence may experience difficulty in developing an
identity due to a lack of genealogical knowledge and difficulty in
living past and present. As a result, some adopted adolescents rebel
against parental authority and expectations."
A Mother’s Tale
Why Melissa Fay Greene chose international adoption
By Linda Bachmann
The Jewish Times
http://www.atljewishtimes.com/archives/2003/011003cs.htm
"According to the Eastern European Adoption Coalition (EEAC), a New
Jersey-based nonprofit that helps families adopting children from
Eastern Europe, post-adoptive depression affects more than 65 percent
of mothers adopting older children from institutions - but it is often
unacknowledged by agencies, social workers and the medical community.
"Falling in love with a child is much like falling in love with a
future mate - initial infatuation and euphoria give way to the lengthy
and often difficult process of adjusting to the day-to-day presence of
another human being," writes Harriet McCarthy, the adoptive mother of
three Russian boys, on the adoption coalition’s Web site
(www.eeadopt.org).
"It often takes from two to six months for a real sense of attachment
to blossom according to many of the posts of families who belong to
EEAC."
************
OTHER LINKS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST:
Why Can't We Love Them Both? by Dr. and Mrs. J.C. Willke (this is an
Abortion Facts site but you may glean something from this information)
http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_34.asp
WHY CHILDREN TURN OUT THE WAY THEY DO (genetic aspects of personality)
Author/s: Judith Rich Harris (6 page article)
Saturday Evening Post, Issue: May, 1999
http://www.findarticles.com/m1189/3_271/54574659/p1/article.jhtml
Realistic Expectations of Attachment to Older [adopted/fostered]
Children
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:5QpQTOJgqxcJ:cfs.fmhi.usf.edu/tread/banyan/adoptioncompanion/pdf/realisticexpect.pdf+mothering+adopted+children+problems+siblings&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
A Review of The Nurture Assumption by Judith Rich Harris
http://members.aol.com/njacbt/article6.html
Estimating the effect of mother’s schooling on children’s schooling
using a sample of adoptees by Erik Plug, Department of Economics,
University of AmsterdamScholar, Tinbergen Institute and IZA
http://216.239.53.104/search?q=cache:JnnXV-m7ho8J:www1.fee.uva.nl/scholar/mdw/plug/bilbao04.pdf+mothering+adopted+children+problems+siblings&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Excerpts from Chapter 11 - Adoptive Parents - HOW IS ADOPTION SOCIALLY
DEFINED?
http://www.arts.yorku.ca/soci/ambert/publications/extracts/effects_2.html
Book review of Twice Born by Betty Jean Lifton
http://plumsite.com/bjlifton/twiceborn.htm
This message appears on a message board at
http://www.babycenter.com/tips/9897_200109.html
"I would like to see some information and hear other mothers and
fathers experiences regarding maternal instinct and bonding with
adopted children.
kstallings@mindspring.com, 05/04/2000"
You may want to consider contacting the person since they left their
email on a public forum.
Adoption Access - newsletter
http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/Donaldson_Newsletter/don_nletter_v2n3.html#adoption02
You may be able to contact this institute to see if they have any
definitive studies regarding non-bonding adoptive mothers.
Various Articles on Adoption
http://www.adoptioncrossroads.org/ExiledMothers.htm
****************
Should you require any clarification of the links or information I
have provided, please request it and I will be happy to respond.
Best regards,
journalist-ga
SEARCH STRATEGY:
non bonding adoptive mothers
post adoptive depression
"adopted child" with biological children problems
"adopted child" biological children problems mother bonding
"adopted children" biological children problems mother bonding
"adopted child" with biological children problems mothering
mothering adopted child problems
research adoptive mother bonding
adoption before biological children mother bonding
mother abusive to adopted child
"reactive attachment disorder"
"adoption studies" attachment bonding
psychopathology adoptive mothers
"adoption studies" attachment bonding |
Request for Answer Clarification by
benfranklin-ga
on
18 Jul 2003 13:11 PDT
Thank you for all the links and research. It would be very helpful to
have some clarification. Specifically, I need psychological research
that concerns studies done with adoptive parents and children,
relating to attachment or bonding issues. I have a custody case
coming up in which the mother obviously has bonding issues with the
adopted child, and I need to present research that would show that it
would be extremely unhealthy for the child to be taken from the
father, who just as obviously has bonded with the adopted child.
Also, note that the father traveled to China to adopt the child while
the mother stayed home, and therefore the father had about two weeks
straight of uninterrupted bonding time with the child before the
mother ever saw the child. When the mother saw the child for the
first time at the airport, she ran away and couldn't be found for
nearly an hour. Any research or studies, as opposed to anecdotal
articles, would be most useful.
Thanks!
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