Cynthia McVey: Young children live in the present so future possibilities are unlikely to worrry her

Published on Friday 3 April 2009 21:31

A LITTLE girl in a prospective adoption situation of this type would certainly have been the focus of much attention and would, even at this young age, have been aware of that.

But a child of three would not have the ability to understand anything at all about her future, or about the debate surrounding her situation.

Children this young are very flexible, they live their lives on a day to day basis. There may be some confusion for the child who is in an orphanage one minute and the next in a five star hotel receiving special and pleasant attention and then returned to the orphanage. But this sort of change of scene will, as she returns to her former life, be a dreamlike memory if remembered at all.

In terms of the long term effects she might become aware of how different her life might have been. It would be interesting to hear what she has to say about it when she is 16.

There could be gratitude for being raised within her own culture – or resentment that she had the opportunity to live a very different and privileged lifestyle.

You can imagine at 11 or 12 she might speculate about how her life might have been different.

But perhaps she will end up happy that she grew up with her own people.

&#149 Cynthia McVey, Head of Psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University.