In the novel, The Leavers by Lisa Ko we learn about Deming Guo a Chinese American who is the son of Polly Guo. We learn in the beginning of the novel from the perspective of Deming the struggles of being Chinese in the States when living in the Bronx of New York with his mother Polly, Leon, Vivian, and Michael. All these members played a part in Deming’s early childhood life until one day Polly disappears. When the mother disappears, Deming is soon left to foster care. It does not take long until Deming is taken into the custody of the Wilkinson’s family and has his own name changed to Daniel Wilkinson. This becomes a challenge for Deming because now he is having to grow accustomed to a new identity within the American culture. Daniel experiences trouble later on in his life with gambling addiction, lose of self-identity and wondering why his own mother left him.
We learn that when Polly leaves Daniel and he becomes adopted into the Wilkinson family this ordeal affected him mentally. This issue soon led to him to have a gambling problem which then affected his relationship with Angel. He also had an identity crisis too within school and within societies expectations. At times, he would reminisce about the past and living in the Bronx. When this occurs, it reminds him of the self that he lost. In the novel, the aspect of Deming’s mental health I felt was taking a toll on him. Not knowing who he was or what he wanted to do in life. In an article by Madison Park of CNN, she discusses adopted children have a greater risk for gaining mental health disorders than non-adopted children. She states, “children who are adopted may be at elevated risk for mental health disorders such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity, oppositional defiance, major depression and separation anxiety disorders according to Dr. Ronald Federici” (Park 2010).
Deming went through so much challenges from losing his mother to being adopted and changing his culture from Chinese to American. His relationship with his music and Psychic Hearts and the ways the Wilkinson’s wanted him to go back to college. Cultural identity, mental health issues and a sense of belonging were all aspects that played an important part in Deming’s life choices.
Citations
Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Chapel Hill, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2017.
Park, M. (2010,). Adopted children at greater risk for mental health disorders. Retrieved March from http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/13/children.adoption.mental.health/index.html#:~:text=Children%20who%20are%20adopted%20may,a%20wide%20body%20of%20research.
This is a great post and I think it is so important that we discuss mental health issues in this day of age. When Deming’s mother left he was just a little boy, so he blamed himself for her disappearance. This caused him to think that he wasn’t good enough. If his own mother didn’t love him enough to come and find him. Why should anyone else love him? The disappearance of his mother also brings up an identity crisis. He doesn’t know who he is. Is he Deming or Daniel? This identity confusion takes a toll on his mental health, leading him to gamble, drink, and hurt those that he loves.
This was a really good idea for a context presentation and fleck.86, I liked your response as well. I loved the parts you added about how he felt being abandoned and the way the name change affected him. I personally took this presentation to heart because as I have mentioned before, I do know some foster kids and as I work in daycare, I often find myself gravitating toward them and wanting to pay more attention to them because it is quite obvious that they struggle with mental health and an identity crisis. Often, this has led to misbehaviors from what I have seen and I think that some foster kids, or just kids in general, act out in order to get the attention they feel people should be giving them. This is heartbreaking to me that a child had to go through those issues so early on in his/her life and I hope that people can realize one day the effect it has on them. This is seen throughout the novel as Deming gambles and drinks. Part of me thinks that he does this in order to get the attention he felt was lacking.
I enjoyed reading the perspective you provided on the topic of foster care and adoption: mental health. It breaks my heart to read stories about children (and families in general) who have gone through experiences similar to Deming’s, because their experiences often consist of what we might call the ‘domino effect.’ In Deming’s case, the fact that his immigrant mother abandoned him without a proper explanation and the fact that his peers didn’t understand him caused Deming to have, as mentioned before, an identity crisis. This internal battle then contributed to his poor mental health which arguably led him to drink, gamble, and push loved ones away. And the dominoes just continued. While these dominoes are not the same for every child who is adopted or goes through the foster care system, they ultimately all carry a huge impact on the individual’s mental health. It’s interesting that you mention the CNN article, because I think it’s an important statistic that everyone concerned with foster care and adoption should be aware of before making hasty conclusions.
This is a really great discussion post! The connection between Deming’s past and his current issues as well as connecting that to a higher chance of mental health disorders for adopted vs. non-adopted children was well researched. Deming goes through so many life-changing events throughout his childhood, and many of them leave a negative impact on his mental health. The pain of losing his mother and never having closure on why she left him really shakes him. Coupled with the stress of adapting to an entirely different new environment and trying to fit in hurts his self-identity and causes him to cope in negative ways such as developing an addiction. This example in the book really highlights what Madison Park reported in her article.
Great post! I think mental health is so undermined for kids in the foster care system. Because of the events that occurred in his life, Deming struggles with his identity as a young kid and then grows up having unanswered questions. These mental health struggles would have probably intensified for Daniel as an adult which could likely explain his current struggles.
Christabel Paul I agree with you on how children’s mental health is very undermined and people never really call into account what these children go through mentally when going through something drastic like foster care and being moved from home to home, or maybe don’t even have a home to go to.
This is an interesting article with many true statements. Their are so many kids that deal with mental health and I can’t even imagine those who have deal with the stresses of being a foster child. I knew a few foster kids during high school, but none of which (that I know of) suffered from mental health. However, I also know of a few kids who’s parents where not present or had an unstable home-life for that matter, that did in-fact struggle with their mental health, similar to that of Deming in The Leavers.
Thank you for this presentation, this was a great connection between characters in the story and the reality of many adopted/fostered children. The foster care system lacks a lot of structure and safety for kids. This results in mental issues later in life. Daniel himself went through many identity crises throughout his life because he was constantly torn between his birth family and his adoptive family.
I agree that the mental health of children in the world today is overlooked by. most as serious threat. But when it comes to foster care children I feel as if it is an extremely vital thing to check in on regularly. If treatable I can see statistically the quality of life for these children after the foster care system improving dramatically. The sheer nature of dealing with mental health issues for a long term can result in life changing decisions leading children down a poor path so if these can be stopped prior the children are in much better shape.
This is a great post, I think nowadays, us as a society do not do a good enough job talking about mental health as a whole. It is too big of an issue to push aside and not talk about it and not educate ourselves as well as others about the topic. I also think it is very detrimental to our society to label mental illnesses as an illness. It is okay to need help every once in a while and to accept that help is something to be proud of.
This is a great post. Society does not think about the mental health of all these kids left in foster care. Mental health is a huge thing to just push aside like it’s nothing, especially for all these kids stuck in the foster care system.
This was a great topic for this weeks context presentation, especially with how much attention mental disorders are finally getting today. I never really considered the idea of adoption and its effects on mental illness. When reading this book, it definitely shows how much this can affect a child and especially with Deming knowing his mother and never expecting her to leave him. He faces a completely new world at such a tough age to experience large amounts of change, so it is very easy to see just how much this could impact him mentally.
This is a nice post that does well to point out how adoption can negatively impact a child’s mental health and ties this into examples from the text. While the effects of foster care and adoption are not often spoken about, I think the first thing we tend to hear about them is how hard it is on kids, and a lot of the narratives about adopted children we are exposed to emphasize this. I can think of several Hollywood films off the top of my head that include children/adults who went through foster care and the most common stories that are told are negative ones (of course, this is Hollywood). For that reason, I think it’s great how Ko doesn’t only talk about the negatives, but she also takes the time to address the ways in which adoption can positively impact somebody, especially in comparison to the life that would have been had otherwise.
I think you did a really good job of detailing how this process can affect a person’s mental health. Most of us know how hard it must be in life for these kids that have been adopted, but maybe not to the extent that we should. For someone who was adopted, it can definitely take a toll on someone’s mind for so many different aspects that some of us would not be able to relate to since we did not have to go through it. Then, I feel as though you did a great job relating the book we are reading to widespread issues in the world, such as Deming being adopted and all the changes he encountered, and how that affected him mentally. Overall, I think you post was very informative and very well written.
This was a great analysis of how mental health most certainly has a great affect on an adopted child’s life. I think one of the greatest struggles of a child who is adopted is their understanding of their own identity and self concept. Not to mention, this was something that Deming dealt with on an even greater level in regards to his race. I definitely think this should be something talked about more and suggested in any adopted situation – where the adoptive parents need to be aware and willing to help their child navigate their own cultural identity within and outside of the adoptive family. It was clear that Deming was challenged by his mental health his whole life and struggled increasingly to understand his own self on a psychological level. It was interesting to hear about how it has been proven that adopted children have an elevated risk of suffering from mental health problems. This topic should definitely be brought to light on other levels.
After reading your context presentation, I found it very heartbreaking that adopted children have a greater risk for gaining mental health disorders than non-adopted kids. For a child such as Daniel, the pressure of assimilation and culture shock took a huge toll on his mental. It’s imperative that these details/facts are talked about more so that these children can one day find piece of mind. Great work!
Thanks for this thread. From a personal standpoint, I have met quite a few adopted children that have struggled with mental health. It’s nice to know that people are finally bringing this significant issue to light and acknowledge the challenge of being an adopted child here in America. The story of Deming and his developing world around him is a prime example of what many kids face each day with forming an identity.
I agree with the author very much. I think many Asians came to the United States as workers, so at first Asian Americans were discriminated against. Deming also lost his direction and became addicted to playing cards because he could not fully integrate into the American culture. The author mentions that adopted children are more likely to suffer from mental illness than those cared for by other parents. I think the cause of children’s mental illness may be the double blow of body and mind. A child may think about a problem every day. Why did my biological parents abandon me.
Thank you for bringing attention to this topic. The mental health of adopted children, foster children or just children in general is not something that is talked about much. In the novel we see how Deming struggles with his own identity as a child and as an adult but it is not mentioned if he ever gets help. It seems that children in foster care or that are adopted out, especially at an older age, would be seen by counselors and psychiatrist throughout their childhood years. I know that if a child has a behavioral issue they are probably seen by them but some kids internalize their feelings and then they manifest as big issues as an adult. If mental health in children was something that was addressed more frequently then maybe the growing number of childhood suicides would decrease.
I agree with your statements. I think that Deming’s separation from his biological parents was the main cause for his future troubles that stemmed from his loss of identity and cultural ties as he was adopted into a white family. I agree that this separation from parents can cause irreversible psychological effects on kids such as PTSD, anxiety, depression, and cause them to be insecure of their relationships with others.