Symptoms of adopted children presenting to a large mental health clinic

The intake records of a selected sample of children adopted in early infancy are reviewed and their presenting symptoms categorized. A majority of the children's symptoms fell into the first 5 of 15 categories: Oppositional Behavior, Aggressive Behavior, Anti-social Acting Out, Academic Problems and Problems with Peers. While these symptoms are not uncommon in non-adoptive clinic cases, the authors note an emphasis on the adoptive parents' disappointment and accusatory attitude to toward these children as well as high incidence of symptoms indicative of interpersonal difficulties and problems in developing solid parental attachments and self-control.