Yuting Yoo – Week Two
It has been a full year since the Yoo family started the
adoption process. Ron’s family comes from China, and he and his partner Tom
have always wanted to be parents. They have traveled to the orphanage three
times to see their daughter, and they cannot wait to bring her home. They have
made their final trip, and now they are on their way back to their home with
their new daughter.
* What should Yuting be doing physically, cognitively, and
emotionally at 12-months of age? Are there aspects of her development at this
point that we might legitimately expect to be “culture bound?”
* Are there obstacles that Ron and Tom may face as an
adoptive gay couple? Are any of these obstacles likely to affect Yuting? Why or
why not?
* What does the research say about outcomes for adoptive children
of gay or lesbian couples versus heterosexual couples? Are there any
discernable differences between the groups?
DECISION POINT
* Has Yuting experienced adequate care in the orphanage? Has
she been neglected and/or abused? Has she had adequate nutrition? Discuss the
implications of your decision on Yuting’s capacity to bond with her new
parents.
*What should Yuting be doing physically, cognitively, and emotionally at 12-months of age? Are there aspects of her development at this point that we might legitimately expect to be “culture bound?”
ReplyDeleteAt 12 months of age, a typically developing child should be expected to have accomplished a variety of different tasks. Physically, Yuting should be able to: use one hand to reach for things instead of two, sit up by herself, crawl up the stairs (as well as on other surfaces), walk with support, drink from a cup with little help, and eat cereal and other soft finger foods without assistance. Cognitively, Yuting should be able to: imitate movements, point to objects, and respond to simple instructions. Around this age, Yuting should also understand how to use simple objects. For example, she should know that a spoon is used to feed oneself, a crayon is used to color, etc. Emotionally, Yuting may have become attached to a particular object or toy so she will want her special object with her at all times. This is especially important for her parents to know because this particular item could help comfort her during the transition from the orphanage to their home. During this period in life, infants will keep their caregiver insight at all times as they begin to experience separation anxiety. Anytime their caregiver leaves the infants sight, they will scream. Ron and Tom should be aware that she may scream a lot when she leaves the orphanage for the first time because she will be leaving her familiar and comfortable environment. Regardless of the quality of the infant’s caregivers at the orphanage, Yuting will still have some sort of attachment to them as that is where she has spent the majority of her life; that is where she feels secure. Also during this age in life, infants will display their desire to be independent by pushing people away that are trying to help them. They want to be able to do everything all by themselves! By this age, infants also know and understand the meaning of “no”.
There are also several language development milestones that are fulfilled around this age. Children will start to copy words, phrases, and sounds, from the people around them. Typically around this age, an infant will say their first word. Infants have development an understanding of language and can express their response nonverbally by nodding or shaking their head. All of these are milestones of a typical 12 month year old. However, since Yuting was raised in an orphanage, a lot of these milestones will be affected depending on the quality of care and interaction she had while in the orphanage. It could take her up to several months to reach some of these development milestones. There is an ongoing debate about critical periods versus sensitive periods. Critical periods are times of life that certain events are suppose to happen and if they don’t happen in the allotted period, the child will suffer permanent damage. Fortunately, most developmentalists believe that there are sensitive periods in life instead of critical periods. Sensitive periods represent the best time for certain skills to be learned. However, if they are not learned in this time frame, they can still be learned later in life as a result of our plasticity. Devleopmentalists believe that growth and decline is continual throughout life. Even though Yuting may be behind, she has potential to drastically improve if she is placed in a nurturing environment that can provide her will all the resources that she needs. Environment is a huge factor in the development of a child; it can either hinder the child’s development or significantly improve it.
ReplyDeleteIn Erikson’s view, “both society and culture challenge and shape us.” (Feldman, 2011) Since Yuting spent a good amount of time, crucial to her development, in China it is only expected that certain delays or glitches to her development can be linked to her culture and background. The first 6 months to a year that follow Yuting’s arrival will see the most significant differences in her development versus other children her age. It will be important for Ron and Tom to understand that they must follow her progress using her developmental age rather than her chronological age. This being said, although Yuting is about 12 months old, her developmental ages puts her back a few months. “It is likely she will show both mental and motor delays and relatively small stature,” but this is expected and understandable given her coming from a less than ideal environment. By following her developmental age rather than her chronological age, it will be easier for her parents to adjust their expectations and plan for the future.
The developmental delays that Ron and Tom can expect for their daughter will be based off a number of different factors, namely how she was treated in the orphanage along with the condition of the orphanage. Statistics show that Ron and Tom are likely to see delays in her mental and motor functioning and physical growth. However, within the first 6 months she will enter what is known as the “catch-up stage” where she will show fast progress in mental and motor (and physical) stages. For example, in a study done at DePaul University found in a case study that approximately 25% of orphans from China brought to America “showed mild mental delays and 34% displayed significant mental delays with their average performance placing in the Mildly Delayed range. Motor delays were more prevalent with approximately 25% and 64% of infants were identified with mild and significant delays respectively with initial average motor performance placing in the Significantly Delayed range.” (Camras & Nelson, 2000) However, at a follow-up approximately six months later, infants’ average mental performance was well within normal limits.
ReplyDeleteA barrier Yuting will also have to overcome is language. Since at this age she is picking up words rather quickly, it is only natural that most of what she recognizes is her native language. Luckily, she is at the perfect age to start recognizing any words she repeatedly hears, not necesarrily being able to differentiate between languages. Yuting’s development physically, emotionally and verbally will most likely be a combination of continuous changes, happening gradually and building on each other through her experiences and discontinuous changes, which will occur in stages and will bring about new and different behaviors than those seen earlier.
* Are there obstacles that Ron and Tom may face as an adoptive gay couple? Are any of these obstacles likely to affect Yuting? Why or why not?
ReplyDeleteRon and Tom will face the same struggles that heterosexual parents face. Aside from the typical struggles, the main obstacle that Ron and Tom will face is prejudice. Majority of the world is divided on homosexual parents therefore, Ron and Tom may face a lot of challenges in that regard. There is still a lot of controversy about homosexual parenting even amongst people that support homosexual relationships. As homosexual parents, they may find themselves limited in support groups and other resources that are typically available to heterosexual parents. For example, programs such as Mothers of Preschoolers, will not be available to them since they are not female. In order to minimize the effect of these prejudice issues, Ron and Tom need to discuss how they are going to deal with all the challenges that they are going to face from their family, friends, community, government, etc. They need to reach arguments on how to handle these situations in order to remain strong for their child.
Yuting will experience effects of having homosexual parents, especially as she gets older. When she is young, she will not know any different, so she won’t be affected very much. However, as she gets older, she may find herself being made fun of in school and other social environments because she has two daddies and no mommy. She may even be bullied in school by her peers because of her parenting situation. Depending on the teacher’s views, Yuting may also run into challenges with her teachers not accepting the fact that she has homosexual parents. She will also struggle with people criticizing and making fun of her parents. As a child, the constant negativity can be a lot to handle. Yuting may also have difficulty in school around Mother’s Day as she may feel very left out, as the majority of the children will be making crafts and cards to give to their mothers. This event will single her out from her peers and set up her up to be teased for not having a mother. In order to help prepare Yuting for the various situations that she may encounter, it is important that she has conversations with her parents about their unique situation. It is also important that Yuting is aware of the discrimination that the world has against homosexuals. Her parents should also point out all the positive things about their living arrangement so that Yuting can focus on the positive things when everyone else around her is saying negative things. It is important for Yuting to know has much as she can fully understand about her parents before getting involved with social interactions with other kids. Tom and Ron should not try and hide information from Yuting because whatever they don’t tell her, she will learn from other kids at school in a negative environment. Everything that has been discussed should be continual conversations throughout Yuting’s development. As she gets older, the conversations can become deeper and more complex. It is important for the parents to have an open relationship with the child so that Yuting feels comfortable going and asking questions when she gets older.
* What does the research say about outcomes for adoptive children of gay or lesbian couples versus heterosexual couples? Are there any discernable differences between the groups?
ReplyDeleteAlthough this is a lot of argument over homosexuals adopting children this is no research showing discernable differences between children of homosexual couples than children of heterosexual couples. According to an article about homosexual parenting, “the primary quality of good parenting is not the particular structure of the family or biology, but it is the nurturing relationship of the parent and child.”(Tab, 2001) In general, we shouldn’t judge homosexual couples’ parenting. Instead we need to look at each couple individually and make sure that they are able to meet their child’s physical, social, and emotional needs. As long as the couple is capable of meeting all the needs of their child, the child will not face any developmental differences when compared to a child from heterosexual parents. A child’s development relies not on the sexual orientation of their parents but instead on the type of relationship the parents have with the child. As long as the child has a strong, nurturing, loving relationship with their parents, their development will not be affected. Some people argue that homosexual relationships overwhelm the child with information about one gender and deprive the child of the opportunities to learn about the other gender. However, there is no research proving this to be a factor that affects the child’s development. As long as the parents fulfill the duties of parenting (both male and female roles), then the child will not be affected. Another rumor is that children that grow up with parents that are the same-sex will most likely have sexual orientation problems later in life. Research also proves this theory false. Majority of children will grow up with the sexual orientation that they were born with despite their parent’s sexual orientation.
*Has Yuting experienced adequate care in the orphanage? Has she been neglected and/or abused? Has she had adequate nutrition? Discuss the implications of your decision on Yuting’s capacity to bond with her new parents.
ReplyDeleteTo say the time spent by Yuting in the orphanage was “adequate” could not be further from the truth. As discussed in our earlier blog, research shows that the conditions and care in orphanages, especially in China, are not at all up to the standards that they should be. In Yuting’s case, she is still rather lucky to have spent only a little over a year in the orphanage whereas some children spend almost all of their childhood. Physically, she has dealt with a lot of hardships that normal developing children may never face in their lives and later down the road this may affect her physical health, but emotionally Yuting will be too young to remember anything that may cause her emotion damage. In the rare case that it does, luckily Yuting is still young enough to recover from that form of abuse and neglect if Rob and Tom take the right approach in how to love and care for her.
While in the orphanage, the physical conditions were the most taxing on such a young baby. At 0-12 months a child needs the most care, but with so many children in the orphanage and such inadequate care, Yuting lacked getting the attention she most likely needed. The orphanage was overpopulated and the staff was untrained and unqualified. Yuting shared a bed with multiple children, with little to no blankets and no heat. Many children at a time bathed together, but hot water was rarely available. Orphans made do with what they could find or make to play with because toys were rarely found. Fortunately, Yuting was lucky in that she did inherit any diseases form her birth mother, which happens in many cases; “In one orphanage in central Russia, all but one out of a group of 30 children had syphilis” (DeLaine, 2000). Since Yuting was born without any complications, she had a much higher chance of survival with lesser complications than some other babies in the orphanage.
Yuting was fortunately not one of the many who were abused, but she was in fact neglected. With so many children in the orphanage it would be a shock to find she was not. In a country where little funding and support is put into orphanages, it is reflected through the behavior of the caretakers. Yuting got the bare minimum in attention for a child her age. She was bathed occasionally and fed scarcely. She played with the other children, but saw little contact and physical touch from the caretakers.
During her time spent in the orphanage, Yuting should have hit some key milestones in her development. By being neglecting though, these may not be apparent when first coming home to Rob and Tom. Developmental delays will more than likely been seen in Yuting since she was given so little attention. By 12 months, Yuting should be able to imitate movements, point to objects, and respond to simple instructions. Around this age, Yuting should also understand how to use simple objects, such as knowing that a spoon is used to feed oneself or that a crayon is used to color. Yuting will have a delay in reaching these milestones because she has never come into contact with these items before, nor has she been able to experience and mimic these behaviors as a normal child would.
ReplyDeleteYuting’s physical development is below average for a child of 12 months, which has much to do with the fact that she was in fact malnourished. For a child this age, nutrition is key. Malnutrition prevents normal health and means that a child may not grow to the right height for their age. The immune system does not work properly when a child has had inadequate nutrition and the children are more likely to contract infections. Yuting was rarely fed milk as a baby, and as she got older they lived off porridge and bits of chicken with no fresh fruits, vegetables or red meat available. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies cause a wide range of medical problems and Yuting will need to catch up on the essentials to get her development back on track. Although Yuting was found malnourished when adopted by Rob and Tom her case is still not of the worse and as long as Rob and Tom give her essentials she needs and put her on a regular diet filled with nutrients and supplements, her immune and digestive systems will slowly build themselves back up to that of an average 1-3 year old.
Because of all the events that have taken place thus far, Yuting’s transition into a family lifestyle, especially one of this nature, will not be an easy process. Yes, she is still young which will ease the process but Rob and Tom must prepare themselves for her shock into a new world. They must realize they will not follow the pattern of a normal 12 month old child, rather one who has seen neglect, malnutrition as well as poor health and hygiene. They will have to take into account her developmental delays and have patients as she will reach her milestones in due time. Rob and Tom can expect her to feel some sort of attachment to her previous caregivers, no matter how poorly they treated her. This is just part of her developmental style at that age and she will want to cling to that which she knows best. They will have to ease their way into her life and make sure they do not force themselves on to her. A quick abrupt entrance into her life may potentially make her become cold and unwelcoming. Rob and Tom should be encouraged to make their environment friendly and welcoming and give her time to adjust and adapt under her own timeframe.
Works Cited
ReplyDeleteCamras, L. & Nelson, R. (2000, December). Developmental status of adopted chinese children . Retrieved from http://condor.depaul.edu/lcamras/adoptproj/holtarticle.html
Developmental Milestones: Birth to 12 months (n.d.). Retrieved from www.ocd.pitt.edu/Files/PDF/Foster/27758_ocd_DM_b-12.pdf
DeLaine, Linda, (2000, March 1). Russian life: plight of russian orphans. Retrieved from http://www.russianlife.com/article.cfm?Number=148
Feldman, R.S. (2011). Development Across the Life Span (6th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson, Inc.
Hagan, Joseph F., (2010). What shall we call them? Pediatrics: Official Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics. Pp 175 – 176. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/126/1/175.full.html
Parenting in a same-sex relationship. (2001, March 1). Retrieved from http://raisingchildren.net.au/articles/parenting_in_a_same-sex_relationship.html#gaychallenges
Perrin, Ellen C., (2002). Technical Report: Coparent or Second-Parent Adoption by Same-Sex Parents. Pediatrics: Official Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics. Pp 341-344. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/109/2/341.full.html
Robinson, Jennifer, (2003, July 1). Homosexual Parenting Evenly Divides Americans. The Gallup Poll. Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/8740/homosexual-parenting-evenly-divides-americans.aspx
Shashidhar H., R. (2009, April 09). Malnutrition. Retrieved from http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/985140-overview
Taub, Alyson, (2001) Fit or Unfit? Homosexuality and Parenting. Journal of Contemporary Legal Issue, Vol. 16(Issue 1), pp 29-33. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com/eds/detail?vid=3&hid=121&sid=d5000822-9d42-467f-a382-5b21a75f1cd1%40sessionmgr110&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=26090348
1. When will Yuting realize that she has two fathers? Will this have an effect on her development?
ReplyDelete2. What is the best way Yuting's parents can tell her she was adopted? Will this effect her relationship with them?