Lesson 7: Institutional Care

Question 1

What is institutional care?

Answer 1

• When a child’s living arrangements are outside of the family.
• Some children are raised in institutions
• Children raised in institutions can adopt the rules and norms of the institution, which can impair function and lead to a loss of personal identity

Question 2

What was the procedure of the Study with Romanian Orphans

Answer 2

• Rutter et al. involved 165 Romanian children who spent their childhood in Romanian institutions before adoption and suffered from the effects of institutionalisation
• They were tested at regular intervals to assess their physical/cognitive/social development
• Their progress was compared to a control group of 52 British children adopted before 6 month

Question 3

What were the findings and conclusion of the Study with Romanian Orphans

Answer 3

FINDINGS
- At the time of adoption, Romanian orphans were behind the British orphans in all measures
- By age 4, Romanians that were adopted before 6 months had caught up to the British
- Those who were adopted after 6 month still had significant deficits at age 4
CONCLUSION
- Long term effects of institutionalisation are less severe if children are adopted before 6 months,and get sensitive parenting
- If not, the consequences of institutionalisation will be severe

Question 4

What are the effects of Institutionalisation?

Answer 4

• Delayed Intellectual Development: low IQ, struggling at school, delayed language development
• Disinhibited Attachment: do not know proper behaviour towards strangers, can be attention seeking
• Emotional Development: difficulty in managing anger
• Lack of Internal Working Model: difficulty interacting with peers and forming close relationships. Will have impaired adult relationships and will struggle to parent
• Quasi-Autism: don’t understand meaning of social contexts and can have obsessional behaviour, they ha e reduced empathy
• Delayed Physical Development: physically small due to lack of emotional care not nourishment - deprivation dwarfism

Question 5

Evaluation (+)

Answer 5

• Studies have enhanced understanding if negative consequences of institutional care, and has led to key workers to provide emotional care
• Studies have led to a change in the adoption process. Before, mothers were encouraged to nurse for as long as they could, but now most babies are adopted before their first week

Question 6

Evaluation (-)

Answer 6

• Generalisation is difficult as Romanian orphanages had extremely poor standards. The children were emotionally deprived, they had applying physical conditions and there was no cognitive stimulation. Long term damage occurs with multiple risk factors
• The effects of institutionalisation can be reduced by sensitive parenting. A study was conducted where 36 Rom orphans were adopted in Canada. When they were 4, they were smaller to their counterparts but by age 10 it had gone
• Adoption and control groups were not randomly allocated, so the children who were adopted may have adopted due to their personal characteristics. Some characteristics maybe why they were less affected by the institutionalisation, lowering validity.