Orphaned Children in Russia and Eastern Europe and the Effects of Developmental - Research Paper Example

Orphaned Children in Russia and Eastern Europe and the Effects of Developmental Abstract This paper was about the attachment issues, emotional issues, and cognitive development issues of orphaned children. Orphaned children all over the world face many kinds of problems not only in their childhood but also in future as the effects of improper emotional development linger throughout the life of a person. This paper discussed the cognitive development issues, as well as emotional and attachment issues of Russian and Eastern European orphaned children. The number of orphaned children in both of these parts of the world is comparatively higher as compared to other parts of the world. Therefore, it seemed necessary to conduct a research on the development issues of those children to know the differences between the behaviors of orphaned and those having parents. The paper discussed emotional issues of orphaned children with respect to the Erikson theory of psychosocial development, attachment issues with respect to Bowlby attachment theory, and cognitive development with respect to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. The research found some key differences in the behaviors of adopted and with-parents children, such as, difference in the level of confidence, difference in emotional attachment, a slight difference in moral and ethics, and different attitudes towards other family members. Introduction Orphaned children all over the world have to deal with a large number of social and emotional issues not only in childhood but also in future as the effects of atypical emotional development hang around throughout the life of a person. Such children face difficulties in educational life, as well as in social and professional lives. A typical Russian orphan usually faces a miserable future which is bundled with drugs, prostitution, prison, alcohol, suicide, and violent death (Big Family Ministry [BFM], n.d.). In Russia and Eastern European countries, the upbringing of orphaned children is one of the main social issues. “It is probably safe to say that government-run Russian orphanages are home for hundreds of thousands of Russian orphans” (BFM, n.d., p. 1). However, in residential institutions, some benefits are there for orphaned children. For example, they can live with their siblings with whom they can fulfill their attachment needs. “One of the acknowledged advantages of a residential institution is the possibility of placing brothers and sisters in the same group” (Astoiants, 2007, p. 26). Along with the orphanages where children are provided with the love and affection of mommies, there are also individuals who adopt children either because of infertility factor or to expand the family (Buchanan, 2004, p. 2). As far as orphanages are concerned, they even take care of such children who although have one or both of their parents but their parents are not able financially to meet the needs of their children. “Family needs, children's conditions, and society's threshold for removing children from their homes are all factors in determining entry” (Maclean, 2003, p. 854). Orphaned children also have the same physical and emotional development needs as of other children who live with their parents. Meeting those needs is a challenge for government-run orphanages, human rights organizations, and individuals because there is no substitute for the love and affection of parents. In this paper, we will discuss the emotional issues of orphaned children with respect to the Erikson theory of psychosocial development, cognitive development with respect to Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, and attachment issues with respect to Bowlby attachment theory. All of these theories are focused on human development. Therefore, studying the issue of orphaned children in the light of these theories can provide a better understanding regarding the differences between institutionalized and non-institutionalized orphaned children. As Gunnar and Dulmen (2007) state, "the types of behavior problems that are and are not specific to institutional privation has both practical and theoretical importance” (p. 132). Orphaned Children in Russia and Eastern Europe As Judge (1999) states, “Children born in the countries of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe are now a main source of international adoptions” (p. 244). The reason is not that these countries do not have a proper structure which can manage the physical and emotional needs of such children. There are proper orphanage systems in these countries but the problem is that orphaned children feel low and inferior to other children because of not having a proper family structure. Therefore, people living in other parts of the world contact the organizations working in these countries for adoptions. Orphaned children face emotional problems, social problems, as well as lack of resources to fulfill their desires. For example, a child living with his/her parents can ask his/her parents to buy a pair of new shoes for him/her. On the other hand, a child living in an orphanage does not have parents who will listen to him/her with full attention and concern. The management, which includes mommies and other officials, has to mange the system equally for all children. Similarly, a child living in a normal system with parents can choose to study in any particular school. On the other hand, a child living in an orphanage cannot make such selections on hi/her own. Such differences and lack of opportunities to make personal choice affect the mind of orphaned children and they become unable to take decisions on their own. According to Fries and Pollak (2004), institutional care noticeably increases the risk for a number of social behavioral difficulties that may include sensitivity to social boundaries, disruptive behavior problems, and social attachment and relationship difficulties (p. 356). In Russian orphanages, the administration provides food, shelter, and clothes to the orphaned children for the first 15 to 16 years f their life (BFM, n.d.). Although provision of such essentials of life is a good step, but the weak point of regarding orphanages is that they make children so much dependent that they become unable to do anything on their own. They have to depend on others for provision of any necessity of life. Such children, when come out of orphanages, find nothing for them in the society due to which most of them become involved criminal and violent activities (BFM, n.d.). Let us now discuss the personality and behavioral development of orphaned children with respect to some key theories of human development. Attachment Issues and Bowlby Attachment Theory Bowlby’s attachment theory is the best theory to analyze the attachment issues of orphaned children. According to the theory, attachment of a child with his/her parents is adaptive and the most essential part of a child’s development. The theorist believed that attachment is an inherited need of every individual. A person having no attachment with any other person in the world is known as a socially isolated person. Such people cannot feel the beauty of life because attachment is one of the main necessities of life which makes a person enjoy life at its best. Every newborn child has the need to feel the love of mother. The relationship between mother and a child starts inside the womb of a mother and flourishes when a child takes birth. The loving behavior that a mother shows to her child gives rise to the need of attachment for the child. “The attachment cycle in early life, where a bond of trust if formed between an infant and primary caregiver, is the foundation on which we base all other relationships” (Johnson, 2002, p. 45). Safety, safe base for exploration, and internal working model are the three ways in which attachment promotes the need of survival for a person. Safety refers to the attachment between child and his/her mother. If we talk about orphaned children, we can say that when they are brought to orphanages in the earliest stages of their lives, the feeling of anxiety grows in them because of the separation between them and their mothers. Some children even have not seen their mothers. For such children, the attachment issue is even more critical as they adopt violent behaviors when they grow up because of lack of social attachment. Attachment also provides safe base for exploration to children. Children living in normal settings start exploring new things when his/her need of social attachment is fulfilled. However, in case of adopted children, there is no safe base available for the children because they do not have parents with whom they can feel attachment and safety which are the two factors which promote explorations of new things. Therefore, such children usually remain behind in studies and develop atypical behaviors when they grow up. Lack of attachment with society also leads such children towards criminal behaviors and suicidal activities. The internal working model refers to the development of parental and guidance skills of children. Children living in normal settings base their behaviors and future relationships on the template of their earliest relationships that exist between them and their parents and siblings. They learn the ways to interact positively with others and develop acceptable behaviors. On the other hand, adopted children do not have the schema that they can use to develop relationships. Therefore, they remain isolated in the society. They have comparatively less attachment with the society due to which they do not hesitate from adopting violent behaviors. Emotional Issues and Erikosn Theory of Development Erikson was a psychologist who believed that human development takes place in a predetermined order. He focused more on social development of a person because a person has to live in the society and has to deal with many people around him/her. Therefore, a person must be able to deal with different kinds of behaviors in a appropriate manner. In case of orphaned children, the need of social development becomes even more critical because such children are brought up in an irregular manner. For example, in their upbringing, there is no role of their own parents who can play a significant and the most critical role in their social and psychological development. There is no substitute to the role of parents in the life of a person because they are the ones who tell a child what is right and what is wrong. They are the earliest teachers of a person who tell everything to him/her with love and care. Adopted children, on the other hand, do not feel the intensity of such relationships due to which they cannot develop feelings of love and affection regarding such relationships. There behaviors are also different from others because in their upbringing, there is no role of parents who can inject in the mind of a child the importance of social and moral values. Erikson worked on the emotional development of a person. He believed that the process of human development continues throughout the life. A person learns different behaviors and develops different feelings with the passage of time. The earliest stage of a person’s life is very critical in this regard because at this stage a person develops emotions and feelings about different relationships. Moreover, at this stage a person learns how to respond to different situations in an appropriate manner. For example, a child becomes happy when he/she gets a good grade in studies and becomes sad when some close relative falls ill or gets in trouble. However, in case of orphaned children, such emotions rarely exist because they are kept in an environment where there are no close relationships that are essential for a child to develop emotional attachment and feelings. They express fewer feelings when they hear some news about any of their relative. Similarly, they have less craze about getting high grades in studies because they do not have their real parents or siblings to share the good news. Adopted children usually feel low in front of the children of the parents with whom they live as adopted children. In case of orphanages, there is no one who can develop feelings and emotions in them regarding different aspects of life. Therefore, they develop atypical personalities in the orphanages and when they step into practical life, they face a wide rage of challenges because they do not know the suitable way to express their feelings in any particular situation. According to Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development, there are eight stages of a person’s psychosocial development and each of those stages has a negative and a positive outcome. Erikson believed that psychosocial development takes place in a predetermined order. As Cherry states, “Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan” (Cherry, 2006, p. 1). Parents can use this theory in different stages of a child’s life in order to help him/her develop a healthy personality. Infancy The most critical stage of the life of a person is from birth to the end of the first year. At this age, a child develops emotional attachment with his/her parents and siblings. A child learns to express his/her feelings to parents even without speaking. At this stage, the presence of parents counts a lot for a child. According to Erikson, lack of attention at this stage of life can inject the feelings of insecurity and fear in a child (Cherry, n.d.).The outcome of this stage of life is either trust or mistrust. A normal child living in normal settings with parents and siblings develops trust in relationships, whereas an adopted child living in an orphanage is more likely to develop the feeling of mistrust because the quality of car given in such systems cannot replace the quality of care provided by real parents of a child. Toddler This is also a very important stage of the life of a person. This stage starts usually from the age of one or one-and-a-half years and lasts till the end of the third year. At this age, a child develops close relationships and starts finding the meanings of close relationships. The presence of parents matters a lot at this stage. The outcome of this stage of life is either autonomy or shame. A child living with parents and siblings develops courage, self-control, and confidence at during this stage, whereas an orphaned child living in an orphanage is more likely to develop shame and self-doubt because he/she has no one to support him/her or encourage him/her for developing new habits and doing new actions. Preschoolers The age range of this stage of a child’s life is from three to five years. At this stage, parents need to support and encourage their child in doing new activities. This is the age when a child starts developing self-confidence and courage to do new things. According to Erikson, if parents criticize or over-control their child at this stage, he/she will develop a sense of guilt and will find it difficult to take correct decisions (Cherry, n.d.). The outcome of this stage of life is either increase confidence or guilt. A child living with parents develops a high level of confidence and the ability to take initiatives, whereas an orphaned child is more likely to develop self-doubt and guilt and find it difficult to take initiatives. School Age The age range of this stage of a child’s life is from six to twelve years. At this stage, parents encourage and reinforce their child’s initiatives to make him/her able to take challenges and communicate effectively with others. The outcome of this stage of life is either industry or inferiority. A child living with parents becomes industrious and able to interact with others confidently, whereas an orphaned child starts feeling inferior to others at the end of this stage because when he/she sees other children enjoying life with their parents, they feel low because of not having this asset. Adolescents The age range of this stage of a child’s life is from thirteen to eighteen. According to Erikson, a child starts to become independent and social during the phase of adolescence (Cherry, n.d.). Therefore, parents make their child aware of the positive and negative aspects of everything. They also support their child’s decisions related to his/her educational and professional life. The outcome of this stage of life is either identity or role confusion. A child living with parents becomes able to identify his/her identity, whereas an orphaned child becomes more confused during this stage of life because he/she has no one to provide a correct direction regarding educational and professional matters of life. Young Adulthood The age range of this stage of a child’s life usually ranges from nineteen to thirty-four years. The role of parents becomes very weak at this stage because a person becomes able to take decisions on his/her own. The outcome of this stage of life is either intimacy or isolation. A person who ahs been brought up in normal settings develops strong and long-lasting relationships in this phase of life and becomes able to guide his/her life in a right direction, whereas an orphaned person becomes socially isolated because he/she is not able to develop durable relationships with others. Middle Adulthood The age range of this stage of a child’s life usually ranges from thirty-five to sixty years. The outcome of this stage of life is either productivity or self-absorption. A person who been living in normal settings becomes able to guide others in a right direction and provide shelter to others, whereas an orphaned person becomes more isolated and stagnant because of lack of lifelong social relationships and feelings. Late Adulthood The age range of this stage of a child’s life usually starts from sixty years and lasts until death. The outcome of this stage of life is either integrity or despair. A person who has been living in normal settings feel satisfied with life when he/she looks back into the past, whereas an orphaned person usually feels regret because of living a terrible and awful life without any real relationship. Cognitive Development and Piaget Theory The cognitive development issues of orphaned children can be best discussed using Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. Piaget’s theory has been focused more on the intellectual development of a child, as well as the transition between the stage of childhood and youth. According to this theory, children construct cognitive worlds on their own when they go through the four essential stages of understanding the world. As Favilla (2010) states, “cognitive theory concerns itself with the way children and adolescents process information” (p. 1). This theory asserts that cognitive development of a child occurs in stages, which include the sensorimotor stage, the preoperational stage, the concrete operational stage, and the formal operational stage. Let us discuss how each of these stages play their role in the cognitive development of orphaned children. The Sensorimotor Stage At the sensorimotor stage, parents help their children in getting an understanding of the world by developing a link between physical actions /movements and sensory experiences. At this stage, children living in normal settings develop intelligent behaviors, as well as the ability to relate knowledge to objects and actions. These abilities create a state of equilibrium or mental balance which is essential for further development of a child. On the other hand, children living in orphanages do not have their parents who can help them in understanding the relation between feelings, knowledge, and objects because of which they find it hard to create mental balance. Orphaned children cannot do proper reasoning because of the lack of parent-child relationship which plays a key role in developing knowledge and reasoning skills of children. The Preoperational Stage At the preoperational stage which also refers to the preschool age of a child’s life, parents help children in understanding the world using drawings and words. At this stage, children living in normal settings become aware of different things and their meanings about which their parents tell them. parents tell the meanings of different things to their children using hands and gestures. Egocentrism becomes high as children become able to perceive the world properly. On the other hand, orphaned children cannot get themselves prepared for school because they have no mentors or parents. Although orphanages do have mommies, who take care of such children, but the individual attention that parents can give to children cannot be replaced by any means. The Concrete Operational Stage At this stage of child’s cognitive development, children learn to replace intuitive thoughts by logical reasoning. Children living in normal settings can apply knowledge and concepts to understand things. At this stage, a child starts to develop his/her conversational skills more rapidly than before. Moreover, the ability to understand the viewpoints of others also starts developing at this stage of life. Orphaned children pass though this stage with no supervision of parents and other close relatives. They develop an incomplete understanding of things because of less exposure to the outside world. Although are able to relate things to physical objects, but they find it difficult to replace thought by reasoning. The Formal Operational Stage At the formal operational stage or adolescence stage of a child’s life, parents make their children aware of different aspects of life by telling them the rights and wrongs of life, as well as the way to apply logic and intelligence to deal with difficult challenges. Children living in normal settings improve their logical reasoning and critical thinking skills at this stage of life. They become able to deal with challenges using knowledge and acceptable set of behaviors. On the other hand, orphaned children suffer from the environment and find it difficult to make their decisions on their own, they become so much reliant on others that their abilities of logical reasoning and critical thinking do not develop in the way they should. Conclusion Summing it up, orphaned children in Russia and Eastern European countries face a wide range of problems in their childhood, as well as in future as the effects of improper emotional development continue to occur throughout the life of a person. A typical orphan who has been given institutional care has to face a miserable future packaged with prison, drugs, use of illegal drugs, suicide, and prostitution. Although there are many orphanages and organizations who take care of the physical and psychological needs of orphaned children, but they are not able to meet the love, care, and affection that parents can give to their children. Moreover, people who adopt orphaned children are also not able to completely share their love between adopted children and their own children. There are some big differences between the behaviors of a with-parents and an institutionalized child. Some of those differences include difference in emotional attachment, difference in critical thinking skills, differences in the level of confidence, difference in moral and ethics, and different attitudes towards other people. The reasons behind these differences can best be understood using Bowlby attachment theory, Erikson theory of psychosocial development, and Piaget’s theory of cognitive development. References Astoiants, M. (2007). Orphaned children: An analysis of life and practices in a residential institution. Russian Education and Society, 49(4), 23-42. Big Family Ministry. (n.d.). Big Family: Mission to Russian Orphans. Retrieved from http://www.bigfamilyministry.org/russian_orphan_information.html Buchanan, T. (2004). The Impact of Attachment Theory on International Adoption. Retrieved from http://www3.dbu.edu/naugle/pdf/FridaySymposiumSp04/Attachment%20theory%20international%20adoption.pdf Cherry, K. (2006). Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/b/2006/10/24/eriksons-theory-of-psychosocial-development.htm Favilla, V. (2010). Cognitive Development. Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Cognitive-Development&id=4003358 Fries, A., & Pollak, S. (2004). Emotion understanding in postinstitutionalized Eastern European children. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 355-369. Gunnar, M., & Dulmen, M. (2007). Behavior problems in postinstitutionalized internationally adopted children. Development and Psychopathology, 19, 129-148. Johnson, D. (2002). Adoption and the effect on children's development. Early Human Development, 68, 39-54. Judge, S. (1999). Eastern European Adoptions: Current Status and Implications for Intervention. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education, 19(4), 244-252. Maclean, K. (2003). The impact of institutionalization on child development. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 853-884. Read More