Startling pictures of starving, neglected, naked children were the first images seen by American parents after Ceaușescu’s communist dictatorship in Romania fell in the late 80s. But a well-intentioned rush to adopt these children led to difficulties for many Romanian children and their American parents, because families and adoption agencies did not fully understand the brain damage these children had incurred under squalor conditions in Romanian orphanages. How does a lack of personal affection shape a child’s development? Why are strong familial bonds so important?
In this episode, Naomi and Ian are joined by Melissa Fay Greene, Kirk Distinguished Writer in Residence at Agnes Scott College, to discuss her recent Atlantic article on the wave of Romanian adoptees brought to the US in the 1980s. The lack of personal attachment experienced by these children caused severe impairments to their development, speaking to the critical importance of love for healthy child development.
Resources:
30 Years Ago, Romania Deprived Thousands of Babies of Human Contact | The Atlantic
Time stamps:
01:10 | Greene’s personal connection to adoption in Romania
03:50 | Discovering brain damage in the Romanian children due to lack of nurture in orphanages
05:15 | What happened when the adoptees went from scarcity to abundance in an American home?
10:45 | Importance of love and stability for child development
16:45 | How long can a child be without a nurturer?