Psychological Problems in Adopted Children

As a result of their inability to give birth to children of their own, most parents have embraced adoption as a form alternative parenthood. Adoption has over the years given parents who suffer from infertility and other reproductive defects a second chance at being parents. Adopted children tend to suffer from numerous psychological problems, a situation which may give the parent a hard time, or even lead to a failed adoption. In this essay, I discuss the psychological problems that most adopted children are likely to face.

Over the years, the extent to which adoption increases the adopted child’s possibility to the development of adjustment problems have been argued on a large scale. Adoption tends to be hard on the child due to the feelings of abandonment and rejection. Most adopted children tend to have the feeling that their biological family did not like them. And as a result abandoned them. This feelings adversely affect their psychological health and wellbeing. Adopted children need to be reminded that they form an important part of the family (Brodzinsky, 1993).

Moreover, adopted children may suffer from identity queries. On discovering that they are adopted, children tend to suffer from self-identification problems. As such, they may ask questions about their parents, and whether they resembled them in order to try and identify themselves. In addition, adopted children tend to have lower self-esteem compared to other non-adopted kids. This can be ascribed to their sense of belonging, dignity or even value. Adopted kids tend to feel that they are lesser beings compared to their non-adopted counterparts (Brodzinsky, 1993).

Furthermore, adopted kids may suffer from grief and reactive attachment disorders. They more often than not feel disappointed for not having their biological parents to cater for them.

Conclusively, the behavior and development of an adopted child is highly affected by the situations they deal with. It is therefore of high value to the parent to learn the problems that their adopted child is likely to be facing in order to provide the ultimate parental care.