If you are at all apprehensive of how a child who has been living in a Russian orphanage will bond with you and your family, I want you to read Susan's March 6 post on her blog "Our Forever Family".

There is always a lot of discussion about bonding issues on adoption chat boards, particularly when the subject of Russia comes up. But these issues were thrown into high relief after November 2005, when psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison released a study that found that levels of two hormones needed for healthy bonding--vasopressin and oxytocin--could be affected by the lack of a loving caregiver.

The UW-Madison scientists based their work on a study of 18 four-year-old children who had lived in Russian and Romanian orphanages before their adoptions and a control group of children who had not been similarly adopted. All the children were described to be in stable homes at the time of the study. The scientists found lower levels of vasopressin in the children who had been adopted than in their control group. But the researchers cautioned that the adopted children were not "biologically barred from forming healthy relationships later in life."

As interesting as that study was, and it got a lot of press at the time, it made me ache for more research. Many children and families struggle with reactive attachment disorder, as Nancy Spoolstra demonstrates on her blog, Reactive Attachment Disorder. But others do not: My kids are bonded to me like Super Glue. When I was at my younger son's orphanage, I was surrounded by children asking, "Can you find me a mommy, too?" What does that kind of question say about the potential for bonding? What kind of loving care is necessary? How much? How early in life? Does it need to be one-on-one, or can it come from a group?

But I promised you a Susan and Wayne story, and so far I haven't delivered. Susan has written about her older son's life prior to coming into the orphanage, and the story is harrowing. Thank goodness there were people in his community who were caring enough to get the child, who seems to be about kindergarten age, into a protective place.

And there he was, with a caregiver Susan identifies as Ludmila. Clearly something good happened in that relationship, because the story of their parting is bittersweet. Susan's account of it is contained in a post called "Sad Goodbyes" and you can read it here.

To Susan, Wayne, their new boys and their whole family, I send my best wishes for a loving life together.