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Nicolae Ceausescu

  • Ceausescu held 24 years of power in communist Romania this stopped in December 1989.

ERA: English Romanian Adoptees

Case study example

A couple adopted 2 girls they were found to fit in right away and learnt the language very quickly

The eldest "didn't like women" due to everyone in the orphanage being women who would hose her down. She was also said to fear flying things, especially flies, and have a constant thirst for water; she would drink at any given opportunity.

Will Malt

Says that he is unknowing of his father and was the first child born by his biological mother; he went to the first orphanage which was cramped and in awful conditions. He said how he had a bald patch from rubbing his head on the bars, and when he arrived in the UK he'd never seen a man or touched hot water. He maintains a healthy attitude to life by saying that he doesn't blame every difficulty on his prior situation, but understands that some problems do stem from that.

The Regime

  • Women in Romania were pressurized to have children - it was seen as "the meaning of women's lives"
  • Contraception and abortion were punishable by imprisonment in jail.
  • This pressure and law lead to many women having to put their children into appalling state run institutions; the Romanian orphanages.

Canadian study. This study involved three separate groups of children:

1. Canadian children who had not been adopted.

2. A group of Romanian children whose median age was 18 ½ months

3. A group of Romanian children who were all adopted before they reached four months old

Found

difference in the attachments formed by children in groups 1 and 3. Group 2 however had attachment difficulties although most formed attachments with their adoptive parents eventually.

Conclusion

The longer children are institutionalised, the harder it becomes for them to form attachments.

Scribanu Atheorised that for every three months in an orphanage, a child will lose one month of development.

Adoption

Along with aid agencies Many couples having difficulties conceiving through IVF had heard about the Romanian orphanages; they found went over to discover:

  • children living in their own filth
  • babies feeding themselves and throwing up.
  • Children left alone all day
  • Rocking in cots

The Institutions

  • Crowded
  • Babies hosed down with freezing cold water
  • Flies
  • Abandonment
  • No stimulation or attention
  • Children fed gruel from teets
  • No toys
  • No proper feeding

Groups

How does this harsh start in life effect the Romanian children in the long run?

Rutter found that differences occurred whether the children were adopted before 6 months or after. The babies who were adopted below 6 months generally adapted better than those who were left in the orphanages for longer.

  • Professor Sir Michael Rutter and his team tracked and monitored 165 Romanian children from the ages 4, 6, 11 and 15.
  • The measured head circumference as well as school grades and social ability.

Amygdala

  • amygdala = emotion centre of the brain
  • The head circumference effects the volume of the brain (there's a positive correlation)
  • Amygdala; a pilot study of oprhans vs non orphans said that orphans had a smaller amygdala the longer they were left in the institution, whereas normally adopted children have larger amigdillas.

What was found?

Resilience

  • One girl said she was so resilient as she was the only girl in the orphanage allowed to wear a dress and allowed a yearly tea date with the supervisor of the Institute.
  • Is this trivial or meaningful? Rutter says no one could ever tell.
  • Resilience may be due to small differences in perception of the care each individual received; this is an important factor.

Head Circumference

Why were some more resilient than others?

IQ

before adoption - mean IQ of 63

After adoption -

adopted before 6 months IQ 63 up to 107

adopted after 6 months - IQ 63 had gone up to 90

Weight

before adoption - 51% below normal weight at age 2

at the age of four this had gone down to 2%.

Theories:

  • Genes
  • Language; understanding words in the Orphanage
  • Or more simply, the way the individual was treated (Roma ethnicities were treated harshly)

Measurements

  • There was a persistence of continuity of problems - this is thought to have been linked to the physically changed structure of the brains.
  • The longer the child spent in the orphanage = the smaller the head size.
  • The head circumference was severely stunted upon entry of the UK.
  • Under 6 months; head circumference catch up was almost complete by 15.
  • Over 6 months; the head circumference issue was still very pronounced.

What problems occurred in those over 12 months?

Measurements

It was believed that those who were adopted from the Orphanage were in an incredibly poor and emotional state, with low measurements; the children's head measurement and height were 2 or 3 Standard Deviations lower than those of UK children.

Rutter would take kids out of school every few years (4, 6, 11 and 15) for 3 days to do a series of measurements and tests, which ranged from puzzles to measuring growth and social behavior.

  • Very specific problems; attachment and over activity issues
  • A cluster of impairments in all; social awkwardness, addictive personalities and apprehensive of strangers
  • However, 2/3 of children don't have significant problems.
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