Other criteria include being a member of a sibling group, being a member of a minority group, or having an emotional, physical, or developmental disability. Special needs adoption is a priority because all children need to be nurtured within a family as they move through childhood.
Society has an interest in minimizing the psychological cost of foster care.
She is especially interested in thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that typically occur among children and families who are newly united. The final stage of restabilization might result in a healthy accommodation, a dysfunctional incorporation, or disruption of the adoptive process. In her first study, Pinderhughes followed eleven families for eight months and documented the readjustment process experienced by the families. She found that expectations parents have prior to the adoption seem to matter for the success of the placement. In her current research, she is examining how parents change those expectations following the adoption.