There is a growing number of foreign-born adopted children with Special Needs. Despite this increase little is known about these adopted children and their needs. It is important to find answers to...Show moreThere is a growing number of foreign-born adopted children with Special Needs. Despite this increase little is known about these adopted children and their needs. It is important to find answers to the following questions: 1.Are there differences between adopted children from Taiwan with Special Needs and adopted children from Taiwan without Special Needs, concerning problem behavior? 2. Are there differences between adopted children from Taiwan and adopted children from China, concerning problem behavior? 3. Are there differences between adopted children from Taiwan with Special Needs and adopted children from China with Special Needs, concerning problem behavior? Through sending adoptive parents questionnaires, data was obtained from 310 adopted children from Taiwan. These data were compared with data from a comparison group consisting of adopted children from China (N = 1233). Problem behavior was studied with the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL). There were differences between girls with Special Needs from Taiwan and girls without Special Needs from Taiwan: the girls with Special Needs tended to have more problems with peers (SDQ), to have more internalizing problems (CBCL) and more total problem behavior (CBCL) than the girls without Special Needs. Boys with Special Needs from Taiwan also showed more internalizing problems (CBCL) than boys without Special Needs from Taiwan. Although „Special Needs‟ is considered to be something purely physical, both boys and girls with Special Needs showed more internalizing problems than children without Special Needs. It may be a pitfall to focus help only on the physical problems when helping adopted children with Special Needs. Besides that, girls from Taiwan (with and without Special Needs) showed more problem behavior on several problem scales than the girls from China. Similarly, girls with Special Needs from Taiwan showed more problems (according to the SDQ) than girls with Special Needs from China. This means that extra attention should be given to problem behavior from girls from Taiwan.Show less
