A happy kid

I know…it’s shocking.  To read the blogosphere, you’d think that all adopted children were struggling with their “primal wound” and felt alienated in their own families.  You wouldn’t know it by looking at OUR family, but we’ve actually been told that our son does feel that way, and we’re forcing him to be in denial.

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Whatever.

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A study by the Search Institute in Minneapolis showed some of the following conclusions.  I’m copying this portion from Baby Wanted, an adoption blog, so you should go there to read the whole thing.

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It seems, actually, to indicate that adopted kids are more happy than nonadopted ones.  At the moment, watching my son tease my daughter, and my daughter totally buy into it by losing her temper, I can totally believe it.

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The study found that the majority of the adopted teens were strongly attached to their families and psychologically healthy. (If they’re doing well in adolescence—a tough time for most of us—imagine what they might achieve as adults!)

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In fact, the adopted teens in the study scored better than their nonadopted siblings or a sample of their peers in …
• Connectedness—having three or more friends and having access to two or more nonparent adults for advice.
• Caring—placing a high value on helping other people.
• Social competency—friendship-making and assertiveness skills.

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Adopted teens also scored higher than nonadopted adolescents in …
• School achievement—having a B average or better and aspiring to higher education.
• Optimism—expecting to be happy in 10 years and expecting to be successful as an adult.
• Support—having a high level of support from parents and from school.

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More recent are the preliminary results from an ongoing study of nearly 1,000 children, including adopted adolescents and their siblings. This study, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, is called the Siblings Interaction and Behavior Study (SIBS), and it is led by Matt McGue, Ph.D, at the University of Minnesota. All the adopted children were under the age of two years old when adopted. In 2003, researchers reported some preliminary results from their study: The adopted kids and their siblings had as close a relationship as nonadopted children. In addition, the researchers said they found no greater risk for emotional problems among the adopted kids than among the nonadopted children.

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Seriously go check out the whole post.  It’s worth reading.  Our kids are happy and normal.