Foreword

Parents who adopt children from abroad travel great distances to adopt children living in institutions and/or foster care and provide postadoptive care, nourishment, and stimulation. For many, this postadoption care is enough and these children thrive and adapt well into their new lives. Others, however, do not. What variables determine whether children adopted from abroad have positive or negative outcomes? Are some children more adaptable or resilient than others? The purpose of this issue is to provide information related to risk, adversity, adaptation, and resilience in internationally adopted children. Evidence-based clinical guidelines for assessment and referral practices will also be discussed. Resilience has been defined more as a process than as a characteristic in that the process of resilience is affected by life experiences and the individual’s interpretation of these life experiences across time (Rutter, 2000; Rutter et al., 2000). Obviously, persons exposed to less risk and adversity in both frequency and duration have fewer problems and have a greater chance for success. On the other hand, children who have experienced more than one stressor are at greater risk of poor outcomes. For those children experiencing multiple stressors, some children appear more resilient than others and achieve positive outcomes in spite of their negative experiences. What characteristics do these successful children have in common? What can be learned from resilient children to help practitioners provide intervention promoting resilience and recovery from adverse experiences? Children adopted from different countries present a different developmental picture. After facing adversity and adaptation to institutional environments early in life, enduring disruption in relationship development beginning with limited social contact then increased social interaction with their adopted family, and experiencing disrupted communication development in one language to immersion in an adopted language, these children demonstrate a different developmental trajectory than monolingual and bilingual language learners living with their biological families. Determining which children have communication, social–emotional, or learning problems and making appropriate referrals for interdisciplinary services become challenging for practicing clinicians. Resilience is strongly correlated with average or higher cognitive ability, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and competence in solving and planning for potential problems (Rutter, 2000; Rutter et al., 2000). In addition, having emotional ties with caregiver substitutes and an external support system that positively reinforces competence and provides a sense of confidence are protective factors for resilience (Rutter, 2000; Rutter et al., 2000). In this issue, the authors present different frameworks of risk, adaptation, and resilience in internationally adopted children. For example, maternal prenatal care and health, as well as postpartum infant nutrition and healthcare, are essential for children’s physical growth and development. Head circumference, in particular, is strongly correlated with cognitive development (Rutter, O’Connor, & the English and Romanian Adoptees Study Team, 2004). Dr. Jennifer Ladage presents a comprehensive review of the literature on maternal and prenatal variables and postpartum nutrition, physical growth, and health variables that may impact communication development of children adopted from several different countries. The attachment between child and caring adults and attunement of the family are related to children’s nonverbal and social communication and emotion regulation development, leading to the development of self-regulation, self-esteem, and self-efficacy. Children living in institutions often do not receive the quality and quantity of social or communicative attention an infant receives growing up in a family. Caregiver–infant ratios are typically high where the primary goal of caregivers is to efficiently care for large numbers of children (Johnson, 2000; Miller, 2005). Thus, social interactions are rarely directed to children individually nor do these interactions occur frequently or for long durations. Thus, children adopted from institutional care are at risk for social and emotional delays and adaptive behaviors resembling autistic-like behaviors, inattention, overactivity, and differences in