International adoption is becoming a route that more and more parents look to when they wish to have children. This increasing popularity has led to their being an increased awareness about the specific needs and situations of adopted children and their families. I was recently contacted by a graduate student at Harvard who has created a survey for adoptive parents that will aid her in her studies.

Wendy Valentine is working towards her graduate degree in human development and psychology at the school’s graduate school of education. Being the older sister to two sisters who were adopted internationally from China, she has an interest in the area of international adoption and sought my help to get more adoptive parents to take her study. As more and more people are touched by adoption I am sure that there will be increased interest in the subject, as Wendy has illustrated.

She and her research team are looking to gain a better understanding of child development in the adopted child; specifically how children aged 4 to 10 are affected by their adoption experiences. I think this is a great idea; it’s research like this that can give us as parents key things to look for as our children grow. This is just me throwing around ideas, but I would be really interested to also have a survey that could be taken by biological parents as well as adoptive parents whose children are in the same age group and compare the answers to see what similarities and differences there may be.

Anyone interested in taking the survey can click the link to it HERE. The survey takes about ten minutes and is completely anonymous. At the end you will be able to view the summary of the survey’s results. If you know of any other adoptive parents who may be interested in taking this short survey, please forward this information or send them here for the link.

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