International Adoptions

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INTRODUCTION

The number of international adoptions taking place in the United States is steadily increasing. Many people looking to start a family in the United States are turning to international adoptions because the process is easier than adopting within this country. However, many of these adoptive parents are not ready for the challenges of adopting a child from another country. Not only are the adoptive parents and the children at different levels of readiness to attach but the child is forced into a new culture as well. Many of the children adopted internationally have been mistreated prior to adoption and as a resulting have great difficulty forming attachments with their adoptive parents. It is difficult for these internationally adopted children to attach and acculturate as quickly as their eager adoptive parents expect them to (Shapiro, Shapiro & Paret, 2001).

Numerous children adopted internationally come from orphanages, which even if inadequate, have provided meaning to the child’s life. When children leave these orphanages, their sleeping patterns change; they begin ...

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