Orphanages Impact IQ Development?
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Seemingly adding an interesting example to the ongoing nature and nurture debate, U.S. researchers discovered a link between IQ and whether children are in foster care or in orphanages, according to their findings from a study in Romania.
According to the study, toddlers who are removed from orphanages and placed in foster care score dramatically higher on IQ tests. They say that the increase is so great in some children that it is the difference between “borderline retardation and average intelligence.” Furthermore, there is a causal impact to IQ development based on how long these children were institutionalized. Children placed in foster care prior to the age of 2 realized the greatest improvement versus those staying in the orphanage longer.
Researchers say they will examine the intelligence of the children as they grow older - noting that it is possible that they may “catch up”.
Read more about this study here.
For adopting parents like me, this study hit really close to home. My wife and I are in the queue for an orphaned girl from China. China is often very secretive about the conditions in the orphanages. From what we have learned from our Social Worker and from our adoption agency, when we actually fly to China to pick her up, it is very unlikely that we will get anywhere near the inside of the orphanage. Rather, orphanage staffers go get the girls and bring them to the families in a waiting room. That’s not to say the orphanages are substandard - but the point is, only those inside really know.
It is possible that our adopted daughter will be in foster care, however. An interesting note twist is that our Social Worker indicated if we get a girl who is coming from foster care, it’s likely that she will shun my wife for the first few months while attach to daddy. This is apparently because she will have already established a bond with one mother - her foster mother - while the men typically do not play a role in the foster care. This isn’t official research here, folks - just reporting what our Social Worker has warned us of.
We have been approved for a girl between six and twelve months of age, so we likely have little to worry about as it relates to this study. But still, your heart really goes out to the kids who aren’t placed into foster homes or adopted at a young age - it seems their development is being impacted cognitively as well as all the well documented research about social and emotional impacts of long-term orphanage placement.
Has anyone volunteered in an orphanage, here or abroad? Does anyone have foster parenting stories to share that might be relevant? Please feel free to comment!
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