Every child has physical and emotional needs that are best taken care of in a loving family home. However, not all children are lucky enough to be born into the stable, loving environment they need to develop healthily. According to the NHS, there are approximately 4,000 children who need to be adopted each year in England alone, and many more who need fostering.
A Troubled Past
A large proportion of children that are taken into care have experienced unsettled lives, perhaps including the trauma of loss and separation from their biological family, even if they were adopted shortly after birth. Some children may even have been abused or neglected in early childhood, or may suffer from specific medical ailments or learning disabilities. To cope with their troubled circumstances children develop their own survival strategies which can lead to distorted views of family life.
Developmental Delays
For each child that has been taken into care, the extent to which their development may have been delayed can vary greatly, whether the delay is physical or emotional. For example, the child may act younger than their age or be unable to perform tasks that other children the same age can.
Delays in child development are often caused by the following factors:
- Foetal alcohol syndrome or foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is a possibility if the mother has abused drugs or alcohol during her pregnancy.
- Prolonged levels of stress during the mother’s pregnancy have been shown to affect the brain development of the unborn child.
- Neglect or abuse after birth can seriously impact a child’s development. If a child is not properly cared for, growth in certain parts of the brain is affected, leading to a lack of emotional development more commonly known as ‘attachment disorder’.
The level of resilience each child builds up against abuse or neglect varies significantly. As such, different children develop different capabilities to overcome the trauma they have experienced in order to catch up with their own development. In some cases, it is difficult to anticipate the long term impact of developmental delays, so it is vital for adoptive parents to understand that there may be uncertainty regarding the specialist support their child may need one day in the future.
The Adoptive Parent
Your role, as an adoptive parent, is to provide safety and support for damaged children who may have developmental delays. It is also your responsibility to identify the services and treatments your child needs in the long and short term so that you can improve their chances in life. If you’re considering fostering a child rather than adopting, the children’s health issues are likely to be similar in both cases. However, guidance and support for foster carers may differ substantially from the advice offered to adoptive parents. For advice, you can call the confidential support service Fosterline on 0800 040 7675. Alternatively, the British Association for Adopting and Fostering (BAAF) has plenty of information and resources for people interested in fostering.
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