NewScientist interviews neuroscientist Charles Nelson (1 October 2016, paywall) concerning his work with orphan infants in Romania who were either placed in government institutions, where attention to the babies is low and the stimulation level is also low, or with quality foster families. The results, now years later?
What was the impact of foster care?
Two or so years into the study, the findings were overwhelming. Across the board, the kids in institutions lagged behind. They had much lower IQs and delayed language development. They had smaller brains. They had all kinds of mental health problems. In every domain, they were hurting. The kids in foster care were doing much, much better.
Some of the improvements – such as in language and IQ – were only seen if children were placed in foster care before the age of around 2. The prevalence of mental health problems such as anxiety and depression were reduced no matter how old the kids were when they were placed. But foster care seemed to have no effect on attention deficit disorder.
How are the children doing now?
They’re 16 or so. Those assigned to institutions are not good. They’re starting to experience significant mental health issues, such as psychotic disorder and paranoia. Around 20 showed a precipitous drop in IQ from the age of 12. That’s surprising and really worrying. IQ is generally stable over time. The kids in foster care are doing much better across the board.
Keep in mind that there were a limited number of quality foster families available, and it’s implied that every one was used – so those in the institutions were not unethically treated by the researchers. Nor were the researchers emotionally immune to the problem:
What were the institutions like?
We had a rule: no crying in front of the children. But it was tough. I can’t tell you how emotional this was. Sometimes you’d have to leave the room because you were so overwhelmed by the suffering of the children and the callousness of the staff.
But this does suggest that poverty is not quite so much the problem as the lack of a caring staff family; sadly, all too often poverty will deprive children of stimulation and nutrients required to build strong bodies and minds. And while some may shrug this off as a problem for the family, the mental illness of one person has the potential to affect everyone around them, ranging from negative economic impacts up to and including physical danger.
This is one of the practical reasons why poverty must be dealt with as a priority item on our national, collective agenda. As with most problems, fixing a problem early in its life cycle is much cheaper than fixing it later; we see this with disease, software implementations, building bridges – name your situation. As studies like this, as painful as they are to read about, become available, they should inform our national conversation on how we handle such issues as poverty, domestic violence, and mental health care, because they are potentially related. We need to ask questions such as whether or not UBI would have a positive impact on those in poverty, no matter how that seems to violate the precepts of the free market, or if we should stick with a welfare approach; how to handle those who, despite (or because) being poverty stricken still spend their money on recreational drugs, legal or illegal, despite having children; and several other items.
For those who would turn their backs on these problems, I would say that having members of our society operating at less than their potential simply because of poverty, as one of the wealthiest nations in the world is not a scandal so much as bloody damn foolishness. We’ve done well because we’re smart, not because we’re stupid, and the more smart people we have, the better off we’ll be in the future. Mantling over your wealth and belaboring a tax rate just because you fear falling behind the millionaire down the street is short-term foolishness. We are a society that must take care of its own, and when we fail to do so, we don’t only endanger those who are falling behind – but yourselves as well.
