Healio (3/21, Oldt) reports that Romanian “adoptees exposed to institutions shortly after birth had increased risk for mental and neurodevelopmental impairment later in life, despite living in supportive families for more than 20 years,” researchers found after analyzing “data from the English and Romanian Adoptees study, a longitudinal, natural experiment investigation of long-term outcomes of individuals severely deprived from soon after birth to up to 43 months in Romanian institutions before being adopted in the United Kingdom.” The findings were published online Feb. 22 in The Lancet. The author of an accompanying comment observed the “study elegantly support the rule of the earlier the better for improving the caregiving environment for young children whose basic needs are profoundly violated.”
Related Links:
— “Deprivation prior to adoption negatively affects later mental health, Healio, March 21, 2017.