Considerations for Adoption: Insights from Dr. Perry’s Research
Behavioral features and emerging difficulties are similar for all foster children. A child from a prosperous family who, by tragic coincidence, becomes an orphan is unlikely to be taken in by strangers for upbringing. Almost always, relatives, friends, and acquaintances are ready to take such a child into their care. A person’s desire to help a child who has been traumatized and bring him into their family is very noble, but one must understand that there are many difficulties that one will face when raising such a child.
The most basic difference between children from an orphanage is the discrepancy between the real and calendar age. This is due to the features of the development of traumatized children identified by Dr. Perry (Perry, 2005). For example, a five-year-old child may be developed as a three-year-old, but it’s great to know different swear words and have knowledge about the sexual life of adults.
Students may not know elementary things, but they are much more mature in some matters than adults. Physical development also has its differences (Perry, 2005). Children often appear much younger, being thin and of small stature, but they are surprisingly strong and run well. For example, children aged 12 may be 5’4″ but can lift and carry heavy weights.
Supporting a Child’s Development Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model
At the same time, another concern is the peculiarity of emotional development, which involves the phenomenon of black-and-white thinking (Perry, 2005). It is difficult for children to believe in love; they cannot see it behind care. For example, they do not understand that the parent is not happy or angry if they speak calmly (Adu & Oudshoorn, 2020). They need to get an explosion of rage and a physical attack to understand the emotion of aggression.
Foster children with childhood trauma are suspicious, withdrawn, fixated, and aggressive, as they do not have a sense of stability or certainty in the future. According to Dr. Perry’s research, children in this state have been in this state for quite a long time, from 1 to 1.5 years old. The lack of love and close relationships with significant adults from an early age can destroy trust and interest in the world in the child’s soul.
Foster children do not immediately enter an orphanage; they are often forced to witness the disintegration of their biological parents’ personalities for a prolonged period (Adu & Oudshoorn, 2020). This leads to violence, cruelty, and indifference towards the child. Orphaned children are not able to love and accept love, as they are used to surviving in a world full of danger and hostility.
Therefore, according to Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model and Dr. Perry’s research, it is recommended to provide special physical and emotional attention to the child. Foster parents are often accused of not loving the child enough, but loving someone who cannot accept it isn’t easy. Traumatized foster children regard care and love as a weakness, since their motto in life is: those who are stronger are right. Traumatized children have poorly developed or no empathy at all. Initially, they are incapable of compassion, and it seems children have no conscience.
Therefore, the first thing to develop in an adopted child is empathy: for example, if a child loves animals very much, one can use it to develop empathy for people. Therefore, one need to think seriously before adopting a traumatized child, as serious work will be required on delays and disorders in the physical and emotional development of the child, which will take more than one year of active work.
References
Adu, J., & Oudshoorn, A. (2020). The deinstitutionalization of psychiatric hospitals in Ghana: An application of Bronfenbrenner’s social-ecological model, issues in mental health nursing. Issues in Mental Health Nursing, 41(4), 306–314.
Perry, B. D. (2005). Maltreatment and the developing child: How early childhood experience shapes child and culture. The Lecture Series. Web.