Risk factors causing persistent delay in neuro-psychic development in infant children during their first year in a foster family

Our research goal was to detect risk factors which cause delay in neuro-psychic development in infant children a year after they were adopted by a foster family. We examined health of 100 infant children at the moment they were adopted and after their first year spent in a foster family; we also examined health of their 100 hundred parents. Our research was focused on social and biological case histories, clinical examinations performed on children, and assessment of their mental development ("Chart for Infants' Neuro-Psychic Exam" technique), as well as psychological examination of foster parents: MINI-SPET (standardized personality examination technique) test, techniques developed by Yu.A. Alyoshina, L.Ya, Gozman, E.M. Dubovskaya and A.Ya. Varga, and V.V. Stolin. All the results were statistically processed with MA Excel XP and Statistica 6.0 software. Relative risks caused by various factors were calculated with Open Epi program; we applied Wald's sequential analysis to draw up an expectancy table. We revealed the following factors which could cause persistent delay in a child's mental development after a year spent in a foster family: a child already suffered from retarded mental development prior to being adopted; a child was adopted when he or she was older than 7 months; a child had had a psychological traumatic experience; a foster mother's attitude towards an infant also mattered a lot. Younger age of a child at the moment of adoption, psychological traumas minimization, and adequate educating techniques in a foster family make for better prevention of any delays in mental development. The obtained data prove it is necessary to provide long-term complex medical, psychological, and pedagogical support for an infant in a foster family under a psychiatrist's supervision.