The ‘Quiet Migration’: Challenges for Families with Children Adopted Internationally

This chapter considers the impact of inter-country adoptions (ICA) as a global phenomenon on families who adopt children from abroad. Some of the early outcome studies of ICA are reviewed, with particular focus on the findings from the research on Romanian children adopted abroad during the 1990s. The messages from research on the challenges encountered by families with children adopted internationally highlights the fact that international adoptions overall are successful, with very low breakdown rates. Such success is guaranteed by the strong commitment of adoptive parents, since international adoptees are a high-risk group of children who need high levels of support. Therefore, service implications in terms of health, mental health and educational support need to be considered in relation to inter-country adoptees. There remains a distinct lack of knowledge, and of evidence-based practice, regarding the interventions which are best suited to the needs of these children.