Correlates of behavioral change in a sample of at-risk adopted children: a preliminary study

Abstract

Although there has been a substantial amount of research investigating the outcomes of such childhood risk factors as maltreatment, neglect, and early abandonment and institutionalization, there is a paucity of research on successful interventions for these children. The current study reports on a research-based intervention for maltreated children. Participants were twelve families (one single parent family) and their thirteen children who attended a therapeutic summer camp¿The Hope Connection¿for adopted children with special socio-emotional needs. Eleven of the children were adopted from orphanages in Eastern Europe and Russia, whereas two were adopted through Child Protective Services. Scoring of Adult Attachment Interviews revealed that only 16% of this sample of parents were secure/autonomous, the remainder being dismissing (42%) or entangled (42%). Further, within the parents' AAI protocols, there were recurrent themes of loss of a sibling (32%), alcoholism in a parent (42%), and renewed mourning (50%). Second, the parents' AAI classifications were not systematically related to the children's measures, but the AAI Communication Strategy scores were consistently related to salivary cortisol levels, the Child Depression Inventory, and attachment-related features of the children's Family Drawings. A third major finding was that significant changes in the children's measures indicated a significant, and positive, treatment effect of The Hope Connection. This finding replicates earlier assessments of this attachment-based intervention for special needs adopted children. The fourth set of findings showed that these diverse measures of children's psychological functioning were also related to each other in predictable ways, findings which contribute to the validity and understanding of these measures. The results are discussed in terms of the role of adult attachment in the change processes of special needs adopted children, as they and their parents participate in an intervention specifically designed for these families.