Health of Post-Institutionalized Haitian Children Adopted to the United States.

Objectives: Haiti remains a principal placement country for intercountry adoptees to the United States. This project reports the health status of children adopted from Haiti arriving to the U.S.

Community-based intervention to reduce stigma for children with disabilities in Lusaka, Zambia: a pilot.

Purpose: This pilot intervention aims to reduce stigma towards children with disabilities living in family-based care.

Materials And Methods: Kusamala + is a pre-post evaluation of a pilot community-based intervention in two low-income compounds in Lusaka, Zambia. Door-to-door canvassing and community referrals were used to identify and enroll children with disabilities.

Caregiving Disruptions Affect Growth and Pubertal Development in Early Adolescence in Institutionalized and Fostered Romanian Children: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Objectives: To determine the effects of foster care vs institutional care, as well as disruptions in the caregiving environment on physical development through early adolescence.

Study Design: This was a randomized controlled trial of 114 institutionalized, though otherwise healthy, children from 6 orphanages and 51 never institutionalized control children living in birth families (family care group) in Bucharest, Romania. Children were followed from baseline (21 months, range 5-31) through age 12 years for caregiving disruptions and growth trajectories and through age 14 years for pubertal development.

IMPACT OF JOINT ATTENTION ON SOCIAL-COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN INTERNATIONALLY ADOPTED CHILDREN.

Internationally adopted (IA) children have often experienced early adversity and are at risk for long-term deficiencies in multiple developmental domains. This study examined the association between IA children's joint attention (JA) soon after arrival and later cognitive, communicative, and socioemotional competency 6 months' postadoption. We expected a child's initial JA would positively predict later cognitive, communication, and social ability.

Neonatal Respiratory Failure Caused by Congenital Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma.

The authors present a case of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma presenting in a newborn with stridor and respiratory distress that progressed to respiratory failure. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain revealed findings compatible with the diagnosis of diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. The family pursued palliative care and postmortem examination confirmed WHO grade III astrocytoma.

Associations between physical growth and general cognitive functioning in international adoptees from Eastern Europe at 30 months post-arrival.

Background: Internationally adopted children have often experienced early adversity and growth suppression as a consequence of institutional care. Furthermore, these children are at risk for impaired cognitive development due to their early adverse experiences. This study examined the association between physical growth, the growth hormone (GH) system, and general cognitive functioning post-adoption.

Micronutrient status and neurodevelopment in internationally adopted children.

Aim: To assess the status of nutrients relevant for brain development in internationally adoptees from disparate global regions and determine whether identified deficiencies are associated with neurodevelopment.

Methods: Participants included children adopted from Post-Soviet States (n = 15), Ethiopia (n = 26) or China (n = 17), ages 8-18 months. A comprehensive nutritional battery and a neurodevelopmental assessment were completed at baseline (within one month of arrival) and follow-up (six months later).

From institutional care to family support: development of an effective early intervention network in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Russian Federation, to support family care for children at risk for institutionalization.

Despite efforts of the government to reform child protection, Russia continues to rely on institutional care due to the lack of support services for families in crisis, children with disabilities, and foster and adoptive parents.The project goal was to establish a replicable professional model that would direct the child welfare system in the Nizhny Novgorod Region away from institutional care and toward services for young children and their families that reduce the risk of institutionalization. The program was carried out over a 3-year period through a public-private partnership, which included the Ministries of Social Policy and Health of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Firefly, and KPMG with partial funding by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Growth, nutritional, and developmental status of young children living in orphanages in Kazakhstan.

This article describes the nutritional and developmental status of young children living in Baby Houses (orphanages for children ages 0-3 years) in Kazakhstan. In 2009/2010, 308 children under age 3 years living in 10 Baby Houses were measured for height/length and weight. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development (N.

Predictors of developmental status in young children living in institutional care in Kazakhstan.

The main objective of this study was to assess the developmental status of children living in the severely adverse environment of institutional care and the examination of risk factors with regard to developmental status, including degree of stunting and emotional-behavioral and anemia status. The Bayley Scales of Infant Development were used to assess development status in 103 children aged 14.9 months (SD = 6.

Vision and hearing deficits and associations with parent-reported behavioral and developmental problems in international adoptees.

To determine the occurrence of vision and hearing deficits in international adoptees and their associations with emotional, behavioral and cognitive problems. The Minnesota International Adoption Project (MnIAP) was a 556-item survey that was mailed to 2,969 parents who finalized an international adoption in Minnesota (MN) between January 1990 and December 1998 and whose children were between 4 and 18 years-old at the time of the survey. Families returned surveys for 1,906 children (64%); 1,005 had complete data for analyses.

Terrestrial vegetation and aquatic chemistry influence larval mosquito abundance in catch basins, Chicago, USA.

Background: An important determinant of mosquito-borne pathogen transmission is the spatial distribution of vectors. The primary vectors of West Nile virus (WNV) in Illinois are Culex pipiens Linnaeus (Diptera: Culicidae) and Culex restuans Theobald. In urban environments, these mosquitoes commonly oviposit in roadside storm water catch basins.

Adoption as an intervention for institutionally reared children: HPA functioning and developmental status.

Institutional care, particularly when experienced early in life, is associated with delays in social and emotional development that often persist years after adoption. It has been hypothesized that compromise of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis due to adverse condition in institutions is a mediator of later emotional and behavioral problems. The first goal of our project was to investigate whether improvements in the social and emotional environment are associated with changes in HPA axis function.

Iron deficiency after arrival is associated with general cognitive and behavioral impairment in post-institutionalized children adopted from Eastern Europe.

To investigate the role of iron deficiency in general cognitive and behavioral development in post-institutionalized (PI) children during the early post-adoption period. PI children (N = 57) adopted from Eastern Europe or Central Asia (9-46 months of age) were seen at baseline around 1 month after arrival into the US and at follow-up 6 months later. Measures included anthropometry, iron status, the Toddler Behavior Assessment Questionnaire-R (TBAQ-R), the Mullen Scales of Early Learning, and examiner-rated behaviors during testing.

IV. Growth Failure in Institutionalized Children.

Children within institutional care settings experience significant global growth suppression, which is more profound in children with a higher baseline risk of growth impairment (e.g., low birth weight [LBW] infants and children exposed to alcohol in utero).

Determinants of catch-up growth in international adoptees from eastern europe.

Children raised in orphanages frequently experience growth suppression due to multiple risk factors. Placing such children in more nurturing environments through adoption leads to significant catch-up growth (CUG), the determinants of which are not entirely understood. The goal of this study was to perform an auxological evaluation and examine the degree and correlates of CUG in international adoptees.

Growth and associations between auxology, caregiving environment, and cognition in socially deprived Romanian children randomized to foster vs ongoing institutional care.

Objectives: To determine effects of improved nurturing compared with institutional care on physical growth and to investigate the association between growth and cognitive development.

Design: A randomized controlled trial beginning in infants (mean age, 21.0 months; range, 5-32 months), with follow-up at 30, 42, and 54 months of age.

Auxological evaluation and determinants of growth failure at the time of adoption in Eastern European adoptees.

Aim: To identify factors contributing to growth failure in international adoptees (IAs) from Eastern Europe.

Study Design: 138 IAs from Eastern Europe, 6-59 months old, were evaluated within 3 weeks of US arrival. Complete history, anthropometry, and serum for growth factors were obtained.

Iron deficiency in international adoptees from Eastern Europe.

Objective: To assess iron deficiency (ID) in international adoptees after adoption.

Study Design: Participants (n = 37) were adopted into the United States from Eastern Europe before they were 24 months of age. Baseline (within 1 month post-adoption) and follow-up (6 months post-adoption) assessments included routine post-adoption clinical evaluations, anthropometrics, dietary intakes, and iron measures (hemogram and serum analysis).

The International Adoption Project: population-based surveillance of Minnesota parents who adopted children internationally.

Objectives: To conduct the first population-based surveillance in the United States of parents who adopted children from countries outside of the United States.

Methods: A 556-item survey was mailed to 2,977 parents who finalized an international adoption in Minnesota between January 1990 and December 1998; 1,834 (62%) parents returned a survey.

Results: Eighty-eight percent of the parents reported transracial adoptions (97% of the parents were white); 57% of the adopted children were Asian; 60% were female; and on average, the children were 18 months-old at the time of placement.

The caregiving context in institution-reared and family-reared infants and toddlers in Romania.

Background: We assess individual differences in the caregiving environments of young children being raised in institutions in Romania in relation to developmental characteristics such as physical growth, cognitive development, emotional expression, and problem and competence behaviors.

Method: Videotaped observations of the child and favorite caregiver in their 'home' environment were coded for caregiving quality, and this was related to child characteristics. Child emotional reactivity was assessed during responses to interactional tasks.