19154

The initial conclusions of the study of Romanian children raised in orphanages and adopted in Britain would seem to this adoptive parent to be prematurely optimistic. A study based on subjects aged only up to 6 years can hardly conclude that severe deprivation “doesn’t inevitably undermine social functioning.” On the basis of the experience of our family and others that we know and have read about, it seems likely that the children’s conditions will worsen when they enter the teen years, leading to antisocial and sometimes self-destructive behavior.

Susan Shields
Santa Barbara, Calif.