Working with adopted children

This paper emerges from a desire to highlight the clinical issues that often accompany the adoption of children. There is a growing global initiative (often mandating governmental policies, nationally and internationally towards the care and management of institutionalised children) towards implementing adoption and foster care for orphaned children as the primary care of choice all around the world. While several guidelines for adoption and foster care have been adopted, we know very little of the developmental trajectory of the adopted child. Using two case illustrations, generously shared by two therapists, we explore the inner world and development of two adopted children. During the course of their therapy, they come to terms with being adopted, their fears and worries and the fantasies that often accompany them throughout their life. Adoption is a complex global phenomenon. With international adoptions often occupying primary place in the global and political dialogues, the fate of local adoptions often go unnoticed. For the adopted child and adopted family, the issues of adjustment can be considerable and not always discerned during the time of adoption. For the biological parent, the act of giving up one's child may not be readily understood at the time but inevitably raise questions and conflicts in the child's mind with time. These are complex and conflated issues and cannot be understood in any one paper. In this paper, we limit ourselves to examining the concerns and worries that arise in two adopted children. Using two case illustrations, we explore the journey each therapist takes with their young patient. Worries, fears and anxieties along with conflicts and dilemmas and how they impact the child's behaviour at home and in school are explored. Limitations in space prohibit us from describing the cases in their entirety. Instead, only certain vignettes are presented that highlight the struggles of adoption and longterm adjustment.