I came upon this article – LINK>The Unrecognized Developmental Trauma of Early Relinquishment in Adoption by Meggin Nam Holtz in Visible Magazine. The link was shared due to someone else’s interest in researching both the positive and negative effects of adoption and that resulted in someone pointing to this link as one they have found useful.

In response to the initial research interest, one adoptee noted – unfortunately I think it’s harder to find the studies and statistics because no one wants to crush the pretty package of “adoption is beautiful.” However, if you check out the statistics of children raised by their biological parents vs raised by unrelated people, the kids raised by unrelated people are more likely to be abused, suffer various issues and not have the greatest outcomes.

The challenge is – We can’t even fully use that research since as soon as the child is adopted, they no longer fall into the “unrelated” category. My personal opinion is that, if research was honest, we’d see a lot less “natural” parents and their children listed under abusers or abused, in the mental health statistics. But again, society doesn’t want to acknowledge that taking someone else’s child and claiming it as your own might not be so great for the kid in the long run.

Also, if using google to research, I’m fairly certain you will be pulling up what everyone else is, ultimately, it’s a matter of what you’re willing to accept. You can go pretty much anywhere in the internet world and see undeniable proof of the negative outcomes of adoption, I hope all of those lived experiences that adopted people are telling the world aren’t secondary in your mind, due to them not being the result of technical studies done.

In other words – a Google search will give you the rainbows and unicorns story most of the time.

The link above is from a paper used in a Master of Social Work graduate school professional seminar related to child trauma. She notes that she is a female adopted person who was adopted in infancy and a clinical social worker working with the adopted population. VISIBLE Magazine® is an online publication committed to making storytelling accessible and inclusive. The publication actively privileges the work of those whose voices have been intentionally ignored or suppressed by traditional media outlets.

Meggin Nam Holtz notes – Permanent physical separation between birthing mothers from their babies is commonly referred to as “relinquishment” in the context of adoption. This discussion article will explore developmental effects of relinquishment occurring at birth and in the early days of an infant’s life.  Examination of neurological, attachment, and developmentally positive outcomes attained through maintaining physical interactions between mothers and their infants during the first hours and days of infant life sheds light on what is missed if a separation occurs.  Contrary to conventional beliefs and attitudes that a baby will not remember or be affected by early life experiences, the neurological impacts of stress in very early life such as relinquishment should be re-framed, acknowledged, and understood as a form of developmental trauma.

She goes on to frame the issue (and cites papers & studies) – there is a misconception in conventional attitudes that young children cannot and will not remember traumas experienced in their first few years of life. It is commonly believed that children “removed at birth may be spared the impact of ACES” (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and although adoptions that take place at an earlier age are often associated with better outcomes, adoptees who experience relinquishment at all ages are vastly overrepresented in mental health and substance abuse clinics, are at higher risk for mood disorders, mental health issues, and are four times more likely to commit suicide than non-adoptees.  Adoptees are an unrecognized marginalized group deserving of specialized services that are currently lacking.  

She hopes that her article debunks the myth that when placed into the best of circumstances, adoptees separated from their birth mothers in early life, do not face challenges due to long lasting developmental, emotional, and behavioral effects. The truth from the adoptees themselves is otherwise.

From there, she shares some of the history of adoption – From 1937 to 1965, the number of adoptions in America grew from 8,000 to over 70,000 due to the fact that newborns, as opposed to older children, became available. [blogger’s note – Actually, my parents were born and adopted in the 1930s.] And then adds that in the present day, there is often no waiting period at all between the actual birth and placing a newborn into the arms of an adoptive family. [blogger’s note – My parents DID spend at least the first months of their lives with their birth mother before being given to unrelated persons to raise.] She indicates that denying a newborn the smells, tastes, movement, and sounds of its birth mother creates a stress response.

There is much more in her paper, and if you are at all interested, I would suggest reading it.