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Experts in the
field of international adoption - particularly adoptions from
Russia and Eastern European countries, which still rely on an
orphanage system to care for children without parents - say there
are ways parents should prepare for children emerging from these
institutions, especially if the children are older.
Jane Aronson, a New York physician who specializes in providing
advice to prospective adoptive parents, views videotapes of the
children under consideration and offers an assessment of the children's
health and development. She also provides medical care for the
children once they arrive.
Some are exposed to tuberculosis, others to hepatitis B. Vitamin
D deficiency causes rickets, a weakening of muscles that impairs
normal development, especially gross motor and fine motor development.
Add to that the possible exposure to lead paint, fetal alcohol
syndrome, an unstimulating environment and a lack of individual
contact with adults, and children wind up with a host of problems
not normally seen in the United States.
"It's a very challenging situation to take older kids from
an institution," Aronson said. "You need to be incredibly
prepared. You need to know the language. I believe families who
adopt older children .?.?. must have some working knowledge of
the language, rudimentary, so the kids are not freaked out when
they come. A lot of behavioral problems, I believe, in older-kid
adoptions come from just the inability of kids to communicate
their fears and anxieties."
Ronald Federici, a developmental neuropsychologist in Washington,
D.C., and a professor of child development at Virginia Tech, has
adopted seven children from Romanian orphanages. He counsels parents
who adopt children from institutions in Eastern Europe, and Russia
especially, to take their time helping the children adjust to
new lives, especially older children.
He said all children over the age of 3 who come out of an institution
are considered "special-needs" children, with emotional
and developmental issues that require extraordinary care.
"No 6-year-old coming out of an institution is going to come
out normal," Federici said.
To the Mattheys, however, the three Russian boys seemed perfectly
normal.
While Brenda had developed a decent vocabulary in Russian, Bob
was less facile. "I kept getting 'tomorrow' (ZAF-tra) and
'breakfast' (ZAF-trak) mixed up, though, cause they're like one
letter apart," Bob said. "I kept asking them if they
wanted 'tomorrow' and they laughed at me."
But the boys picked up English quickly - especially Viktor, who
used a Russian-English translation program on the computer to
help communicate with his new family. By February, the boys were
using English exclusively, according to their grandmother.
The Mattheys had decided the house they were renting in Raritan
Township, a 21⁄2-story white, wood-frame house on a well-traveled
road, was no longer large enough. They found a new home on a wooded
hilltop in Union Township, between Pittstown and Pattenberg in
northern Hunterdon County.
The house was a four-bedroom, two-bath ranch, built in 1958. The
exterior was red-and-white, with an attached garage and a greenhouse
off the garage. It was screened from the road by tall pines and
some scraggly shrubs.
The former owner of the house, Adah-Grace Roberts Vollmer, who
now lives in Doylestown, Pa., remembered remarking during the
sale on the number of children in the Matthey family.
She also recalled warning the family about the pump room, which
she described as about 5 feet by 8 feet, separated from the rest
of the basement by a locking door.
The room contained a pump that drew water from the property's
well. The room also had a 50-gallon holding tank for the water
pumped in from the well, and a water-softening system. There were
no lights or heat in the pump room, and the concrete floor was
always wet, she said.
"It's a dank, miserable place," she said. "I tried
to use it as a wine cellar and, for a while, I kept a rack of
wine in there, but it was so dank, the labels would come off."
She said the door to the pump room had a hook-and-eye lock, but
she kept the door open and specifically told Bob Matthey he should
do the same.
"I did warn him and showed him," Vollmer said. "It
was so damp. It was a miserable place and I did warn them it was
a good idea to leave the door open."
The Mattheys closed on the $215,000 property on May 22, 2000.
In their new house, Viktor and the twins shared a room furnished
with a set of bunk beds and a single bed. They played on a trampoline
in the back yard, and Viktor learned to ride a bicycle.
While the Mattheys had always home-schooled their children, they
decided that for the coming school year they would send the four
older boys to a church school in Washington, Warren County, so
Brenda could devote as much time as possible to the twins and
Viktor.
Brenda gave the twins - who had just turned 4 - baby bottles at
night, to promote bonding, and because she believed that would
help them develop their speech.
She also fed a bottle to Viktor, who was 6 years old when he arrived,
so he wouldn't feel left out. All three boys had put on weight
and had grown taller, according to a June 9, 2000, follow-up visit
by Lori Phelan, a social worker from Bethany Christian Services,
the agency that had done the Mattheys' original home study.
The report said all the children "appeared to be doing well."
Viktor was described as somewhat withdrawn at first, but beginning
to show more affection and emotion. He was called by his new middle
name - Alex.
The boys had been found to have rickets - not uncommon among Russian
adoptees - and the Mattheys were advised the cure was good nutrition.
Initially allowed to eat as much as they wanted, the boys didn't
know when to stop eating, and so the Mattheys began portioning
out their food.
Viktor was also having trouble sleeping. He did not take an afternoon
nap as his younger brothers did, and he woke up frequently in
the night.
There also were toilet-training problems, especially with the
twins. Brenda told the Bethany social worker that she was "gentle
with her reaction" to the problem.
The report concluded that the adoption was working out nicely.
"The children have benefitted greatly from all the care
and love given to them," Phelan reported. "This is
evidenced by their socialization and affection toward each other.
The children are very much loved and cared for."
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