Are their any statistics about depression with international adopted kids versus biological kids?

[Anonymous]

I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

[Anonymous]

It's not just Korean adoptees. http://ispub.com/IJAPA/4/1/10593

One of my good friends was adopted from overseas as a baby and she is very involved in the movement to change the narrative around adoption--especially transracial adoption. It can be very, very hard on kids, especially those who are adopted into communities where they don't look like anyone else.

[Anonymous]

It’s not the adoption that’s the issue - it’s whatever circumstances led to the bio parents being unable or unwilling to parent the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Well, you’ve obviously never met me, my sister, or my daughter! All Korean adoptees and all perfectly mentally happy and healthy.

[Anonymous]

The three Korean adoptees I know are siblings who were adopted when they were between 4-8 years old. All are very bright, well-adjusted and successful professionals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Yes there is reeearch that confirms it’s common in international adoptees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Yes there is reeearch that confirms it’s common in international adoptees.

How so?- versus domestic adopted kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Yes there is reeearch that confirms it’s common in international adoptees.

How so?- versus domestic adopted kids.

I don’t know the research. But it’s got to be tough to know that your mother chose not to keep you. I know a number of teens that are struggling with this, mine included.

[Anonymous]

My feeling based on no data whatsoever is that international adoptees have a much harder time than domestic. I don’t know why it is but every story I hear of adoptees who are depressed and have a hard time of being adopted are from an Asian country.

[Anonymous]

Well there may be more research on Korean adoptees because it is the oldest and largest international adopted group, international adoption started in the 50s.

I’m a Korean adoptee. I have a hard time separating my adoption from other issues, such as race. They all go together. As a kid I was stared at everywhere we went and usually had tons of questions. And back then, there was no coaching for parents on race or how to handle anything so whatever their feelings were about an issue, that was all you got. That was terribly depressing and I struggled. As I got older and could voice my experiences and met other adult adoptees, I realized I wasn’t crazy and that I did have challenging circumstances to navigate on my own with no help. Now I am well adjusted, married, successful enough and have my own family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well there may be more research on Korean adoptees because it is the oldest and largest international adopted group, international adoption started in the 50s.

I’m a Korean adoptee. I have a hard time separating my adoption from other issues, such as race. They all go together. As a kid I was stared at everywhere we went and usually had tons of questions. And back then, there was no coaching for parents on race or how to handle anything so whatever their feelings were about an issue, that was all you got. That was terribly depressing and I struggled. As I got older and could voice my experiences and met other adult adoptees, I realized I wasn’t crazy and that I did have challenging circumstances to navigate on my own with no help. Now I am well adjusted, married, successful enough and have my own family.

My best friend in college was a Korean adoptee and said she had a similar experience. Adopted by a white family in a small town who ended up later having a biological child. She felt really isolated and said her parents pretty much denied and/or ignored the fact that she was a different race. She struggled a lot in college and after college, but ended up happy and well adjusted. I think some of it is inevitable with adoption, but a lot could have been mitigated if her parents were better educated on how to parent her and support her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s not the adoption that’s the issue - it’s whatever circumstances led to the bio parents being unable or unwilling to parent the kids.

Do you know much about international adoption and how much of that is actually child trafficking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Yes there is reeearch that confirms it’s common in international adoptees.

How so?- versus domestic adopted kids.

I don’t know the research. But it’s got to be tough to know that your mother chose not to keep you. I know a number of teens that are struggling with this, mine included.

How do you know that this was truly the mother’s choice? How many first mothers are pressured and coerced and told repeatedly that the most living thing, the most selfless thing, the most courageous thing is to give up their child? That to parent a baby when they are young and poor is reckless and selfish and deluded? How many young women get matched with adoptive parents early in urge process, bond with them, and feel pressure and guilt if they follow their steal instinct to keep their baby? How many women feel unprepared, unsupported, terrified, and are told that the best thing they can do is hand over their baby?

Please try to understand the experience that your child’s mother may have had before surrendering her child. The loss. The trauma. The lack of support. It is really important for your child to understand the context of most adoptions so that your child will know that it is not a situation of not being “wanted”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I swear every Korean adopted kid I've met has been depressed or anxiety ridden. Is just Korean adoptees? Obvious can't be but Any statistics out there amongst cultures?

Yes there is reeearch that confirms it’s common in international adoptees.

How so?- versus domestic adopted kids.

I don’t know the research. But it’s got to be tough to know that your mother chose not to keep you. I know a number of teens that are struggling with this, mine included.

How do you know that this was truly the mother’s choice? How many first mothers are pressured and coerced and told repeatedly that the most living thing, the most selfless thing, the most courageous thing is to give up their child? That to parent a baby when they are young and poor is reckless and selfish and deluded? How many young women get matched with adoptive parents early in urge process, bond with them, and feel pressure and guilt if they follow their steal instinct to keep their baby? How many women feel unprepared, unsupported, terrified, and are told that the best thing they can do is hand over their baby?

Please try to understand the experience that your child’s mother may have had before surrendering her child. The loss. The trauma. The lack of support. It is really important for your child to understand the context of most adoptions so that your child will know that it is not a situation of not being “wanted”.

When you adopt, you are your child's parent. The birthmother's experience has nothing to do with depression in the children. Depression can be from a variety of things from genetics to school or home environment. One has nothing to do with the other. Some adoptions are forced, not many now - its more the birthfathers who are forced or never told about it. Many women do choose adoption. Our child's birth mom was driving the adoption.

[Anonymous]

There is definitely research that adoptees - not just from Korean - receive more mental health treatment than those not adopted.
My totally unprofessional opinion is that there are two issues:
1. Adoption is a trauma-inducing event, even if you are an infant when it happens. The normal self-identity process that teens go through is magnified when you don't have biological parents and family as a guidepost. No matter how wonderful your parents, there are still some real identity issues with being adopted.
2. Adoptive parents, assuming they were appropriately educated during the adoption process, are aware of the issues and concerns that might pop up. Because of this, they are often quick to ensure their child gets any help they might need to navigate these issues, including going to mental health professionals. So behavior that, in a biological child, might be considered just a phase, is addressed more proactively in many adoptive families.