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Do children adopted from British Foster Care show difficulties in executive functioning and social communication?
2015 · United Kingdom
The repository abstract describes a systematic review of 30 studies examining executive functioning in looked-after, adopted and previously institutionalised children. Most studies concerned previously institutionalised children; parent questionnaires and several direct performance tasks indicated executive difficulties. Evidence for other care and adoption groups was more limited.
Do the effects of early severe deprivation on cognition persist into early adolescence? Findings from the English and Romanian adoptees study
2006 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Researchers compared cognitive outcomes at age 11 in 131 Romanian institution-reared adoptees and 50 UK adoptees. Difficulties persisted for many children adopted after six months, while some children with the lowest earlier scores caught up between ages six and eleven. Outcomes varied substantially and were not associated with adoptive families’ educational background in this analysis.
Do theory of mind and executive function deficits underlie the adverse outcomes associated with profound early deprivation?: findings from the English and Romanian adoptees study
2008 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Researchers assessed theory of mind and executive function at age 11 within a cohort of 165 Romanian and 52 UK adoptees. Longer deprivation was associated with difficulties on both tasks. Statistical analyses suggested possible mediation of some autism-related difficulties, but these functions did not explain the whole pattern of deprivation-related problems.
Does Opening Adoption Records Have an Adverse Social Impact? Some Lessons from the U.S., Great Britain, and Australia, 1953–2007
2007 · United Kingdom / United States / Australia
This historical research examines campaigns and experience surrounding access to adoption records in the United States, Great Britain and Australia during 1953–2007. The author’s deposited abstract describes assessment of reported adverse incidents after records were opened and reports few or no recorded offences in the settings examined.
Dopamine transporter gene polymorphism moderates the effects of severe deprivation on ADHD symptoms: developmental continuities in gene-environment interplay
2009 · United Kingdom
The ERA study examined whether variation in DAT1 and DRD4 genes moderated associations between early institutional deprivation and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms at ages six, 11 and 15. DAT1 variation moderated the association from early adolescence into mid-adolescence; the equivalent DRD4 interaction was not found.
Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy for children living with adoptive parents or special guardians: a longitudinal assessment of the impact on child and caregiver wellbeing outcomes
2023 · England
Surveys of 150 families receiving DDP through England’s Adoption Support Fund measured children’s wellbeing before therapy, near its end and at follow-up. Caregiver-reported emotional and conduct difficulties decreased, with improvements maintained at the later survey. The study identifies associations between receiving therapy and changes in children’s scores.
Dyadic developmental psychotherapy for children with developmental trauma histories: An exploration of children’s therapeutic experiences
2025 · United Kingdom
Six children aged 8–12, five adopted and one under special guardianship, used play-based interviews and visual activities to describe ongoing therapy. Interpretative phenomenological analysis identified trust, feeling understood, repair after difficult interactions and perceived closeness to caregivers. Most children expressed benefits, alongside discomfort or uncertainty.
Early adolescent outcomes for institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. I: disinhibited attachment
2007 · United Kingdom (regional breakdown not specified)
Researchers followed children adopted from Romanian institutions and compared them at age 11 with children adopted within the UK without institutional deprivation. Parent reports, observed interactions and researcher ratings examined unusually indiscriminate social behaviour. The behaviour often persisted from age 6 to 11 and was associated with institutional upbringing, other difficulties and greater service use. Apparent reductions partly reflected how well the parent measure suited older children.
Early adolescent outcomes of institutionally deprived and non-deprived adoptees. III. Quasi-autism
2007 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Researchers followed Romanian institution-reared adoptees and UK domestic adoptees through ages four, six and eleven. Children with suspected autistic-like patterns underwent further diagnostic assessment at twelve. Sixteen Romanian adoptees met the study’s quasi-autism designation, while none of the domestic comparison adoptees did. Some earlier autistic-like features diminished; disinhibited attachment and difficulties with peers often co-occurred.
Early adolescent outcomes of institutionally-deprived and non-deprived adoptees. II: language as a protective factor and a vulnerable outcome
2007 · United Kingdom (regional breakdown not specified)
Researchers compared language and cognitive development at ages 6 and 11 in 132 Romanian children adopted after institutional care and 49 early-placed UK adoptees. Longer deprivation was associated with poorer language and cognitive outcomes, although duration beyond six months did not show a simple linear relationship. Among children arriving after 18 months, even limited speech imitation at arrival predicted better later language and cognitive outcomes, but not social or emotional outcomes.
Early adversity predicts adoptees’ enduring emotional and behavioral problems in childhood
2021 · Wales
Four waves of Wales Adoption Cohort data examined emotional and behavioural difficulties after placement and pre-adoption adversity.
Early childhood deprivation and the impact of negative life events on mental health in later life: a test of the stress sensitization hypothesis
2024 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Using questionnaire and interview data from 170 ERA adoptees, researchers tested whether early deprivation changed the association between adolescent negative life events and emotional problems at ages 23–25. Peer-related events were associated with greater later emotional difficulties in the severely deprived group; the same interaction was not found for general independent or dependent life events.
Early childhood deprivation is associated with alterations in adult brain structure despite subsequent environmental enrichment
2020 · UK; Romania
MRI data from Romanian adoptees with severe early deprivation were compared with non-deprived UK adoptees. The deprived group had smaller total brain volume on average and regional structural differences, with duration of deprivation associated with brain volume.
Early severe institutional deprivation is associated with a persistent variant of adult ADHD
2016 · UK; Romania
An ERA follow-up found those exposed to more than six months' institutional deprivation had much higher ADHD rates into ages 22–25 than a low-deprivation comparison group, with links to education and employment difficulties.
Early years adversity, adoption and adulthood: conceptualising long-term outcomes
2014 · United Kingdom research context (sample geography not specified in abstract)
Researchers assessed 72 women adopted from Hong Kong orphanages into British families in the 1960s, roughly 45 years later. Interviews and questionnaires covered health, relationships, achievements, identity and wellbeing. Compared with 1958 birth-cohort data, the women differed little on the measures used. The paper also examines what midlife measures may miss.
Educational progress of looked after children in England: linking care and educational data
2015 · England, UK
Linked national education and care data were used to examine educational progress among children with care histories. The wider research includes children who subsequently left care through permanence routes and provides context for later work on educational outcomes among previously looked-after and adopted children.
Effects of qualities of early institutional care on cognitive attainment. E.R.A. Study Team. English and Romanian Adoptees
1999 · United Kingdom; Romania (origin)
Researchers examined how the quality of early Romanian institutional care related to cognitive scores after adoption into UK families. At age six, lower IQ was associated with longer institutional care. Malnutrition showed a weaker association, and lack of individualised care was associated with cognition after accounting for duration and nutrition.
Emergence of multidrug-resistant Salmonella Concord infections in Europe and the United States in children adopted from Ethiopia, 2003–2007
2009 · International, including England and Wales
Researchers combined infection reports from six countries, including England and Wales, with laboratory testing and investigations in Ethiopia. They identified 78 people with Salmonella Concord infection during 2003–2007. Of 44 patients aged three or younger with known adoption status, 98% had been adopted from Ethiopia. Most of the 43 isolates tested for antimicrobial susceptibility were resistant to multiple antibiotics.
Emotion regulation in children following severe early deprivation
2002 · United Kingdom
The thesis examined emotion regulation in 96 Romanian adoptees and 24 UK adoptees at age 11, using observations and interviews alongside earlier attachment and peer information. Emotional dysregulation was associated with longer deprivation; statistical models examined attachment and peer difficulties as possible pathways.
Emotional abuse in early childhood: relationships with progress in subsequent family placement
2002 · United Kingdom (regional breakdown not specified)
Researchers combined data on children placed individually from two family-placement studies to examine experiences of being singled out or rejected by birth parents. Such histories, especially alongside certain relationship behaviours and less sensitive new parenting, were associated with poorer behavioural and family-relationship progress in the first year. The analysis explored a pattern noticed during the original studies rather than a question planned in advance.