The Predictive Accuracy of Pre-Adoption Video Review in Adoptees from Russian and Eastern European Orphanages

Abstract

Many internationally adopted children have a pre-adoption video for prospective adoptive parents to review before their commitment to adopt. No published report to date has examined the value of the pre-adoption video evaluation (PreAVE) as a predictor of post-adoption developmental status. The present study was designed to determine whether PreAVE can predict the post-adoption developmental status of internationally adopted children. In this retrospective chart review, children who presented to the Yale International Adoption Clinic between December 1998 and September 2000, and had both a PreAVE and a post-adoption developmental evaluation (PosADE) were selected (N=20) PreAVE was done using the Denver II and PosADE was done using the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, 2nd edition. The Pearson r coefficient between the two ratings was determined and sensitivity and specificity were calculated. There was a significant correlation between the PreAVE and the PosADEs (r=0.53, p = 0.01 ).The sensitivity of PreAVE to detect moderate to severe developmental delay was 43% and the specificity was 85%. Although ratings of development on PreAVE are similar to PosADE, the ability to detect moderate to severe developmental delay by video review is limited.