CHAPTER 7: The Wanted Ones

Summary This chapter describes long-term adjustment in families who have adopted children with mental retardation. Interview and questionnaire data from 42 families who adopted 56 retarded children indicate positive outcomes for almost all of the adoptions. These outcomes are discussed in the context of existential and reality crises that the parents must face when a handicapped child enters the family. A model for predicting good and poor adjustment to these crises is proposed, and the variables useful in that prediction are described. The importance of these research findings for both adoption practice and family research is discussed.