International adoptions--
life beyond the institutions
Adriana Thompson, 3, and Gale S. Haradon, PhD, associate professor and chairman of the department of occupational therapy, share a love story.
Adriana was among the more than 100,000 Eastern European children who have been abandoned by their parents and then institutionalized in warehouse-like conditions. "Adriana was in a Romanian orphanage where there was very little exposure to sensory input such as touch, movement and human communication," Dr. Haradon said. "Subsequently, she had development delays in fine motor, language, personal social and gross motor skills."
When Dr. Haradon joined the faculty at the Health Science Center in 1993, she established a network of pre-adoptive and adoptive parents and their internationally adopted children through the occupational therapy department. Dr. Haradon and her husband, Howard, spent a year in Romania working for a health foundation before moving to San Antonio.
"Institutionalized children usually display fearful and defensive reactions to touch and textures and behavioral reactions to the environment which are different from children raised in homes," Dr. Haradon said. "Early deprivation of emotional and sensory experiences results in unique problems that are experienced by many international adoptees."
To promote more realistic expectations of foreign adoption, Dr. Haradon meets with prospective adoptive parents. She also conducts developmental evaluations of the children following adoption, recommends resources for both the children and new parents, and monitors the children’s progress. Last year Dr. Haradon played a major role in coordinating presentations by health care providers at a conference for U.S. families who had adopted children from Romania. The conference was in San Antonio.
"My goal is to promote a greater awareness of the needs of children adopted from international orphanages which results in successful adoptions for both children and their parents," Dr. Haradon concluded.
Adriana, adopted by a San Antonio family, is evidence of Dr. Haradon’s numerous success stories.
