What Are the Negative Effects of Being Adopted?

Many adopted children grow up to be healthy, happy members of society. A chance exists, however, that any adopted child may suffer some negative effects as a result of being adopted. These range from the psychological to the physical. While these effects are never a certainty, it is wise to be aware of the potential problems an adopted child could face down the road if adoption is an option you are considering.

  1. Abandonment

    • When a child finds out that he has been adopted, it is possible that he will feel abandoned by his birth parents.This creates potential issues that crop up for some adopted children's entire lives. People who have abandonment issues sometimes have difficulties forming healthy relationships with others. Abandonment issues carry a risk of depression and magnify during times of stress in a person's life, such as adolescence.

    Medical History

    • When a child grows up and begins to see doctors regularly, he will be asked many questions about the medical background of his family. Unfortunately, adopted children often do not have this information available, especially when a closed adoption has occurred. Although adoption agencies try to provide some of this information to parents, in some cases, pieces of the puzzle are missing. Doctors' abilities to care for a patient are limited when limited family history is not available.

    Discipline Issues

    • When a child knows that he is adopted, the issue of the adoption is bound to come up during fights. This creates a disciplinary challenge, for the parents and the children. The argument of a mother or father not being a child's real parents is one that needs to be quickly defused. Sometimes a child suffers from a lack of discipline if he is adopted. Adopted parents often try to have children and fail and struggle through a long adoption process. This leads to potential unwillingness to show sufficient strictness in the disciplinary process.

    Grief

    • In addition to the feelings of abandonment that an adopted child feels, a feeling of grief also has to be dealt with. As a child gets older and gains a deeper understanding of his adoption, or learns of it for the first time, he may go through a grieving process for the loss of his biological family. This also leads to a desire to meet or learn about the birth family, if such an option is available, for some children. While this is a positive for some adopted children, others encounter stress during the process or ultimate frustration if unable to locate the birth parents. This failure further exacerbates the grieving process in some people.

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