Institutionalisation

• In the 1990s, between 100 - 170 thousand children were found in Romanian orphanages
• There was severe institutional neglect, there was one unpaid staff per fifty children.
• Many children from the orphanages were adopted internationally, and many remain homeless in the sewers and streets
• Harlow and Quinton. Institutionalisation lead to a negative internal working model as there was no continuous caregiver to base a template on. This leads difficulties in relationships.
• If a child is deprived of emotional care for longer than five months, they begin to develop anaclitic depression
• Anaclitic depression is when the child becomes depressed due to lack of love and affection
• Rutter: most adopted Romanian orphans showed signs of learning difficulties when they arrived in Britain, however those adopted before 6 months caught up with the control group by 4 years.
• Disinhibited attachment - low stranger anxiety, very affectionate and attention seeking. Rutter explained it as an effect of living with multiple carers during the sensitive period.
• Infants lacking emotional and psychological care may be physically underdeveloped as they lack a growth hormone.