Chinese social workers note that a great number of Chinese students who end up seeing psychologists through the public school system were sent back to the mainland at a very young age. Such children have trouble adjusting to life in the United States after they return.

Meng Guo Yucheng, a social worker for the Child Center of New York, says that a large proportion of the Chinese children sent to her from schools or hospitals were raised by relatives in China and returned to the United States at the age of four or five. In such cases the child may experience psychological adjustment problems due to culture shocks and abrupt changes in living environment.

Though parents who send their children back to China avoid short-term hassle, they may face great challenges raising their children after they return to the States. Meng says that many of the children she works with come from low-income families or have parents with limited education. Many parents regard their children's shyness as normal and believe that they will adjust to life in the United States before long. But in actuality, many such children exhibit abnormal behavior and mood at school. Their parents may not notice, and may not know how to go about learning about their child's behavior in school.

Child psychologist Xie Xiaoling, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore, notes that when young children are unable to establish an emotional connection with their parents, they will form attachments to the people who raise them.

Any disruption in a young child's environment and routine may influence their emotional condition, Xie says. Even differences as subtle as the way their caregivers prepare food can have an effect, she says.

Parents must take great care to minimize disruption when their children return to the States. One five-year-old child, recently returned from Fujian to New York, had great difficulty getting along with classmates because of limited English.

When children experience a drastic change in living environment, they need emotional support from their parents, Meng says. But this requires basic trust, and parents must work hard to build it.