Reactive Attachment Disadvantages

While most would think that adopting a child has many pros, it will certainly have many cons if not handled properly. One of the cons include Reactive Attachment Disorder. Reactive Attachment Disorder is a disorder when infants do not have a proper caregiver, and result in having attachment disorders because their needs were not fulfilled. This is the power of nurture and how important it is for infants to have the proper attention and care in order to develop healthy relationships with people. Without the proper care, and bonding experience, infants experience neglect and trauma. Reactive attachment disorder is especially prevalent in children who were institutionalized, or adopted during infancy. In a popular study about the orphanages
of Romania in the 1990s, children were in horrid conditions and develop many disabilities such as Reactive Attachment Disorder because of this. Workers at the orphanages provided inadequate care for the infants. Infants did not get attention when they cried for it and even had physical activity so low, that the back of their heads were flat from lying down all day long (DeLoache, Ejsenberg, Saffran, Siegler, 2014). As a result, there are long term effects including the inability to have relationships with peers. This shows the attachment in cognitive development and social development has been obstructed, which are signs in Reactive Attachment Disorder. According to Bowlby, infancy (from birth to two years) is the age when development of attachment is most important and needs the most attention. Institutions and adoption centers usually care for infants and do not give them the proper love and care they need. When not properly tended to, as we can see that the chances of the child suffering from Reactive Attachment Disorder is very likely. According to Balasingham (2012), "In the U.S., it is estimated that half of all children adopted from orphanages, along with 40% of children in foster care, are affected by RAD" (p. 65).

Other than hiring more caregivers to tend to children in institutions or even ban institutions and foster care, it is hard to follow through that policy since abandoned children do not have places to go.
So my policy is to start when the adoption process starts with the new potential parents. My proposed solution is to bring awareness to the people that are interested in adopting children of Reactive Attachment Disorder. When adopting children, the potential parents are given health records that mainly describes physical conditions but touch nothing about Reactive Attachment Disorder. Potential parents should be taught that children in institutions and foster care programs need more attention and care. Potential parents should also be examined thoroughly before being able to adopt children, to lessen the chances of treating the child unwell and also lessen the chances of unadopting the child. Unadopting a child will have detrimental effects on the child since they aren't attached to a caregiver properly and even worsen the disorder. So, the potential parents should be examined if they're financially and emotionally stable enough to adopt the child. After that, the potential parents will be educated, and be offered therapy services to help connect the child with their parents as well. This way, the child will grow up in a healthier and more loving environment, helping to lessen the effects of Reactive Attachment
Disorder.