ABSTRACT

Through parent surveys, the level of adjustment in home, school, health, mental health, and community of children from three types of adoptive and from birth families was compared. The sample groups include: child welfare adoptions (1340), domestic infant adoptions (481), international adoptions (89), and birth families (175). On most measures, particularly in relation to school functioning, adopted children were rated by their parents as having more problems than children from birth families. Children adopted from the child welfare system had significantly higher rates of problems than other types of adopted children. Using the Behavior Problem Index (BPI) as a measure of behavior problems, child welfare adopted children were rated as having a mean of 11.9 problems as compared to 6.2 for birth children and 9.1 and 9.4 respectively for domestic infant and internationally adopted children. Logistic regression analysis demonstrates the odds ratio present for an elevated BPI score for children from each family form. Children adopted from the child welfare system are 3.4 times as likely and internationally adopted children are 2.4 times as likely to be in the upper quartile of the BPI as children in birth families.