Cognitive Recovery in Socially Deprived Young Children: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project

TLDR

The study randomized abandoned children to continued institutional care or foster care and followed their cognitive development up to 54 months. Children who remained in institutions had markedly poorer cognition than never‑institutionalized peers and those moved to foster care, with the greatest gains seen at 42 and 54 months among the youngest fostered children, highlighting the negative effects of early institutionalization and the benefits of family placement.

Abstract

In a randomized controlled trial, we compared abandoned children reared in institutions to abandoned children placed in institutions but then moved to foster care. Young children living in institutions were randomly assigned to continued institutional care or to placement in foster care, and their cognitive development was tracked through 54 months of age. The cognitive outcome of children who remained in the institution was markedly below that of never-institutionalized children and children taken out of the institution and placed into foster care. The improved cognitive outcomes we observed at 42 and 54 months were most marked for the youngest children placed in foster care. These results point to the negative sequelae of early institutionalization, suggest a possible sensitive period in cognitive development, and underscore the advantages of family placements for young abandoned children.