Trauma and Mental Health

Adoption is a delicate process that comes with many different considerations. The relationship between an adopted child and his or her adopted parents is unique, and in many ways is unlike that between parents and their biological children. It is difficult to predict how a child will adapt to his or her new home and family, so it is important to prepare for several different considerations about the mental and emotional wellness of adopted children.

While there are inconsistent findings on the relationship between adoption and mental health, there is enough to know that it is not 100% the same as parenting a child born to you. Some studies of adoptees suggest greater self-reported drug use, antisocial behavior, negative emotions and other behavioral problems compared to non-adoptees. There is a known four times risk of attempted suicide. Yet other researchers report that adoptees engage in more pro-social behavior than non-adopted adolescents, such as helping disadvantaged populations.

While every adoption story is different, one thing to remember is that there is no adoption without loss. Experts consider separation from birth parents – even as an infant – as a traumatic event. Therefore, every adopted child experiences early trauma in at least one form. Many experience additional trauma before adoption. This compounds the potential negative effects on their physiological, social, and emotional development across all stages of life.

Find Competent Help

As a program of the Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York, the Adoption & Foster Care Therapist Network (AFCTN) provides families impacted by adoption, kinship and foster care access to mental health professionals who have a clinical expertise in adoption, foster care, trauma, and/or attachment issues.
AFCTN DIRECTORY

As parents, the best bet is to be educated, aware and informed. This section on trauma and mental help will provide addition discussion and resources on:

Effects of Early Childhood Trauma on the Brain

Early childhood trauma has a profound impact on the brain. We know that many things happen in the mental, emotional, and neurological development of children who have been subjected to harm during the beginning phases of life. Dramatic alterations in their basic brain chemistry affect how their stress system reacts, the way they think, the way they trust, and the way they connect with other people. This is not just a “software” problem – as you’ve guessed, it’s a matter of “hardwiring” in the central nervous system.


Adverse Child Hood Experiences (ACEs)

ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains and lead to changing how they respond to stress and damaging their immune systems so profoundly that the effects show up decades later. ACEs cause much of our burden of chronic disease, most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. Based on the ACEs, losing a parent to separation, divorce or other reason- such as relinquishment for adoption or removal from the home into foster care – will cause a trauma.


Building Resilience

We all know people who have come back from difficulty or loss, and while some people may seem to be more resilient than others, anyone can develop resilience through a variety of strategies including observing, identifying and managing strong feelings, having a positive view of ourselves and our strengths and capacity to solve our own problems, and making realistic plans and communicating well.The good news is that resilience is not a trait that people either have or do not have. It involves behaviors, thoughts and actions that can be learned and developed in anyone. Though connections and compassionate parenting, we are helping our children both heal and build necessary resilience


Grief and Loss

All adopted children and youth, even those adopted as infants, experience some level of separation and loss. They may grieve as they come to understand the role that adoption has played in their lives. They also may struggle with feelings of abandonment as they try to understand why they were placed for adoption and how that affects who they are. These feelings may appear and reappear at different stages of life, even when their adoption is a positive experience. Adopted children and youth may need support in working through conflicting feelings, mourning their losses, and coming to terms with their experiences.


Finding Competent Help

An adoption-competent professional understands the unique challenges inherent in adoption and possesses the clinical skills to provide quality mental health services. Many adoptive parents and family members consistently report that they are unable to find mental health professionals who understand the complexities of adoption. Some families may seek the help of as many as ten different therapists before finding one who understands the role that adoption plays in their lives. Most mental health professionals and allied professionals simply lack the training to meet the diverse and complex clinical needs of adoptive families.