Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

There are many consequences of stress on a child's development. Many of my students suffer from hunger and poverty. I work at a Title 1 school and the majority of our families are on free and reduced lunch. Thinking about one child specifically in my own classroom at one time, she was not only living in poverty and hunger, but she was also being neglected from her parents. I had her when she was 5 years old, and her sister the following year in my class. Both girls were far behind academically. They were literally blank slates coming into my classroom and couldn't not even write their own names until the end of the year. Most of my students who came in as blank slates, would eventually be caught up academically around Christmas. Both girls were far behind in all subjects. I wondered if part of this was because they were not getting the support at home for homework and extra practice like most of the other children. They were the sweetest girls I have ever taught, but would get upset easily when learning new subject matter because they were not catching on as quickly as the other children. Socially, the girls seemed fine because they had each other, as well as their older sister to talk to and play with. At one point, we found out that the mother was not getting out of bed and the oldest sister was cooking and taking care of her younger sisters. (The oldest was only in the 5th grade.) We found out this was happening after their father had left the picture. When the girls were in their father's custody, they came to school clean and well-fed. And when they were with mom, you could clearly see the neglect. I was hesitant to send them both to 1st grade, but the older sister was far enough along, that she did not need to repeat kindergarten. Her younger sister, however, did need to repeat because she did not know all her letters still by the end of the year.


I found an article titled, Child Neglect, Social Context, and Educational Outcomes: Examining the Moderating Effects of School and Neighborhood Context by Dr. Constance L. Chapple and Dr. Jamie Vaske. They discovered that children who were neglected had a higher chance of worse developmental outcomes than children who were not neglected before age 5. Some negative outcomes listed in the article were antisocial behavior and poor school performance. 15% of the children followed in the study were retained at least one grade level between kindergarten and 9th grade. They concluded that children who were neglected suffered much worse educational outcomes than children who were not neglected. The article supported my thinking on why the two sisters struggled much more than most of my other students.



I chose to research Romania and find out what type of stressors impact the development in their children there. I chose Romania because my sister went there when we were in college and her experience there really touched my heart. She told me about how all the gypsy children would literally come up to you take whatever you had in your pockets, and you wouldn't feel a thing. They were told to leave everything valuable at home because of the risks of everything being stolen in Romania. Adoptions have been closed and the orphanages are so full that many children are neglected and do not have human contact every day. I found it very difficult to find any articles dated after 2003 and my sister believes that is because they have closed down the country to anyone outside of their borders.
The children there are suffering poverty, neglect and hunger. My sister also talked about how racism exists there because the families living happily there look down upon the gypsy families and make them feel like the scum of the earth. I did find a newspaper article the read "This adorable little girl is Adi. With dark brown eyes, an infectious smile and a sweet giggle, she could be anyone's four- year-old daughter. But Adi has no parents to call her own. Abandoned in a bleak, overcrowded orphanage, she has the physical and mental development of a child half her age. She cannot talk and struggles to gain weight; consequences, her carers say, of the trauma she has experienced in her short life. Adi is one of a generation of children trapped in Romania's orphanages for two new and unforeseen reasons, both the result of its political unshackling (Collcutt, 2006)."


The article stated the reasoning for orphanages being overcrowded... "The first is the number of adults migrating west particularly to Britain, where immigration controls are shambolic and work is plentiful who dump their children in institutions. The second is a ban on international adoption forced on Romania by the European Union. When the world's cameras captured the horror of its orphanages following the overthrow of communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu 16 years ago, there was a rush of adoptive parents from Europe and America. Millions of pounds were spent and around 50,000 children found new homes (Collcutt, 2006)."

As for what is being done to prevent the neglect in Romania... this is what the article says... "
Anna Feuchtwang, chief executive of the EveryChild charity, says not enough is being done to solve the myriad of social problems that lead to abandonment in the first place. 'We have found that in many cases, there simply isn't the will to change the habits of the past,' she says.
'Although there has been an enormous improvement in living conditions for children in care, it is disturbing that the trend is rising. The Romanian government is not addressing problems such as a lack of housing and jobs. For very little money, a national database could be established to trace parents, register abandoned children and locate Romanian families willing to adopt (Collcutt, 2006)."

I find it heartbreaking to hear what is going on in Romania and how the children are suffering due to the corrupt adoption laws there and how there is not a lot of change being done. These children are not going to school and will have a hard time making it in the real world when they turn 18, if they do not get adopted and get brought up in a household where education is valued.

References

Chapple, C. L. & Vaske, J. (2010). Child neglect, social context, and education outcomes: Examining the moderating effects of school and neighborhood context. Violence and Victims, 25, 470- 485.

Collcutt, D. (2006, February 6). Orphaned. Mail on Sunday, p. 66.