Il primo anno post-adozione: esiti di benessere familiare

Many studies have documented that adopted children, despite the initial delays, showed significant recovery over time in all the main developmental areas; longitudinal studies focused on adoptive parents and on their well-being’s trajectories over time are limited and inconsistent. The present study is aimed at partially filling this gap, evaluating children’s well-being (emotional, behavioural, and attachment difficulties) and parents’ well-being (depression, parenting stress, couple satisfaction, and social support) during the first postadoption year (T1=within 2 months after children’s arrival in the family and T2=a year after children’s arrival). In all the analyses mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions were compared. Participants were 56 families, for a total of 112 parents and 65 children (7 adoptions of siblings). This study showed globally a positive situation at children’s arrival in the family, more continuity than change during the first post-adoption year, and highlighted the presence of many adoptive couples’ resources: low levels of parenting stress and depression, a strong couple relationship, together with a perception of the child as not problematic.