59 pages • 1 hour read
Lucinda BerryThe Perfect Child
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2019A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Socio-Cultural Context: Adoption in America
Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of racism, child abuse, and mental illness (including reactive attachment disorder and antisocial personality disorder).
In the United States today, 5 million Americans were adopted as children, with more than 115,000 children adopted in 2019 alone. Children are adopted in a variety of ways, including through both national and international methods. There are almost 400,000 children in foster care in the United States, with less than a third of these being eligible for adoption (“US Adoption Statistics.” Adoption Network). Over half of the children in foster care spend more than two years in the system, as they either await adoption or the possibility of returning to their biological families. Adoption and the federal childcare system have been criticized both in the past and present; in the past, child protective services has been openly accused of “baby scooping,” or taking children from backgrounds deemed “lesser than” and adopting them out to white, middle-class families. Black, Indigenous, and other marginalized groups all experienced this phenomenon. The Baby Scoop Era took place from the 1940s until the 1970s as the rate of unmarried women becoming pregnant rose and many were pressured by their families or the state to surrender their children.
In recent years, an anti-adoption movement has risen out of similar criticisms, as people have recognized that some biological parents did not want to give up their child and that child protective services unfairly targets families living in poverty and families of color, often removing children from homes that are loving and safe. Added to this, international adoptions are often based on cultural biases and can create feelings of disconnect from a child’s homeland and culture. Systemic racism is not the only criticism that drives the anti-adoption movement. The foster care system has long been a source of controversy, as many children in the system are abused, unfairly removed, or shifted from home to home, creating unstable and unpredictable environments. The foster care system has also been criticized for failing to prevent abuse. On the opposite end of the spectrum, social workers often overreport due to a fear of being penalized for failing to report something crucial. On the other side of the anti-adoption movement is a rising trend among conservatives, particularly in states that have recently banned abortion, to push for adoption as an alternative.
Psychological Context: Reactive Attachment Disorder
Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is an early childhood diagnosis typically given to children under five. It results from an unhealthy or unformed bond with the child’s primary caregiver and can therefore arise in instances of neglect (e.g., due to severe illness or substance use, as in The Perfect Child), abuse, or orphaning. In keeping with its etiology, it manifests primarily in social interactions; children with RAD struggle to form close bonds with others and may avoid social interaction, becoming isolated and withdrawn, or struggle to understand and respond to conventional social cues. On the flip side, some children with RAD, like Janie, become skilled at manipulation to survive. RAD also affects emotional regulation. Thus, children with the condition may be unable to express positive emotions but respond with intense anger and anxiety to comparatively minor challenges; they may also exhibit more general impulsivity.
Janie receives a diagnosis of RAD due to factors like her history of abuse, her failure to bond with Hannah, and her violent tantrums. However, some of Janie’s more extreme behaviors—her lack of empathy and predilection for violence, etc.—cause Dr. Chandler to note that Hannah has “sociopathic” traits. Sociopathy is not a diagnosis that can be given to children or, indeed, to anyone; the term is used widely in popular psychology and sometimes in legal settings, but it does not refer to any currently recognized disorder.
Sociopathy does share similarities with antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), a condition in which a person lacks empathy or remorse, tends to manipulate others or act out aggressively, and typically feels concern only for themselves. Like Janie, people with ASPD may be impulsive, hostile, and prone to charming others into believing they are something they are not. Studies suggest that in the United States, approximately 35% of the prison population has ASPD, which speaks to the disregard for social norms common with the condition (Black, Donald W. et al. “Antisocial Personality Disorder in Incarcerated Offenders: Psychiatric Comorbidity and Quality of Life.” Annals of Clinical Psychiatry: Official Journal of the American Academy of Clinical Psychiatrists, vol. 22, no. 2, 2010, pp. 113-20). Children who experience trauma are more likely to develop ASPD, and it is thought to be caused by a combination of environmental (experiential) and genetic factors. The similar etiologies and overlapping symptoms suggest that RAD can develop into ASPD, and some studies have suggested a link (cf Levy, T. M. and M. Orlans. “Kids Who Kill: Attachment Disorder, Antisocial Personality and Violence.” Forensic Examiner, vol. 8., no. 3/4, 1999, pp. 19-24). However, it is important to note that as a personality disorder, ASPD cannot be diagnosed in children, whose personalities are considered to be in flux.
