Children who have been institutionalized are often socially immature for their age. If an odd or annoying behavior would be normal in a younger child, don t worry about it at first. New sights, sounds, and smells may overwhelm the child don t add to it by over stimulating them at first. Expand the child s new world slowly. Most social workers will counsel a family not to displace their own oldest child, and usually not the second oldest either.
Children have a firm idea of their place in the family.
Once integrated into the family and a new live, children adopted at an age younger than three often retain no conscious memories of their former lives. Initial adjustment issues tend to be less dramatic with this age group. A baby or young child may cry inconsolably, sulk, show a poor appetite, cling to one parent and spurn the other, avoid sleep, regress, or otherwise exhibit initial distress at being in the care of strangers. But young children often quickly transfer their attachment to the new caregivers. Those adopting from Kazakhstan, where extensive visitation is required before the court hearing, have reported fewer initial problems than those who have taken custody of young children they barely know.