Romanian Orphan Studies: Effect of institutionalisation
Romanian orphan studies
Research on maternal deprivation has turned to orphan studies as a means of studying the
effects of deprivation. A tragic opportunity to look at the effects of institutional care and the
consequent institutionalisation arose in Romania in the 1990’s. Former Nicolai Ceaucescu
required Romania women to have five children. Many Romania parents could not afford to
keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions.
After the 1989 revolution many of the children were adopted, some by British parents.
Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study
Procedure
Michael Rutter and colleagues (2011) have followed a group of 165 Romanian
orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for poor
early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has
been assessed at ages 4,6,11 and 15 years. A group of 52 British children adopted
around the same time has served as a control group.
Findings
When they first arrived in the UK half of the adoptees showed signs of mental
retardation and the majority were severely undernourished. At age 11 the adopted
children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of
adoption. The mean IQ of those children adopted between 6 months and two years
and 77 for those adopted after 2 years. These differences remained at age 16
(Beckett et al.)
In terms of attachment, there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to
whether adoption took place before or after 6 months. Those children adopted after
they were 6 months showed signs of particular attachment style called disinhibited
attachment. Symptoms include attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour
directed indiscriminately towards all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar.
In contrast those children adopted before the age 6 months rarely displayed
disinhibited attachment.
Romanian orphan studies
Research on maternal deprivation has turned to orphan studies as a means of studying the
effects of deprivation. A tragic opportunity to look at the effects of institutional care and the
consequent institutionalisation arose in Romania in the 1990’s. Former Nicolai Ceaucescu
required Romania women to have five children. Many Romania parents could not afford to
keep their children and the children ended up in huge orphanages in very poor conditions.
After the 1989 revolution many of the children were adopted, some by British parents.
Rutter’s ERA (English and Romanian Adoptee) study
Procedure
Michael Rutter and colleagues (2011) have followed a group of 165 Romanian
orphans adopted in Britain to test to what extent good care could make up for poor
early experiences in institutions. Physical, cognitive and emotional development has
been assessed at ages 4,6,11 and 15 years. A group of 52 British children adopted
around the same time has served as a control group.
Findings
When they first arrived in the UK half of the adoptees showed signs of mental
retardation and the majority were severely undernourished. At age 11 the adopted
children showed differential rates of recovery that were related to their age of
adoption. The mean IQ of those children adopted between 6 months and two years
and 77 for those adopted after 2 years. These differences remained at age 16
(Beckett et al.)
In terms of attachment, there appeared to be a difference in outcome related to
whether adoption took place before or after 6 months. Those children adopted after
they were 6 months showed signs of particular attachment style called disinhibited
attachment. Symptoms include attention seeking, clinginess and social behaviour
directed indiscriminately towards all adults, both familiar and unfamiliar.
In contrast those children adopted before the age 6 months rarely displayed
disinhibited attachment.
