We’ve decided to build our family through international adoption. Our process is well under way and we are neck-deep in paperwork. Although many people come to the adoption decision based on infertility, sexual orientation or single marital status, we have come to the adoption decision based on the simple fact that millions of orphaned children in the world need parents. When I first started researching adoption, I thought it would be easy enough to adopt a ‘healthy’ baby because there were millions of orphans out there. Not so. It turns out there are thousands of adoptive parents waiting in line for healthy infants while thousands of ‘waiting children’ are waiting in line for parents. Sometimes they are a little older (2!), are part of a sibling group or have medical needs. The term ‘special needs’ used to scare the hell out of me, but it comes up over and over again in adoption so I kept researching what this term meant exactly. We decided we were not going to join a waiting list because we wanted to adopt a child who might not otherwise have the chance of a family. The more I researched, the more I realized that SO many of the ‘waiting children’ have very manageable needs. Here are some resources we have found helpful.
This page has the following sub pages.
Hello,
I was so glad to see your comment on AAC Ukraine’s facebook page! Wonderful blog; would you be so kind to contact me at the above email address (or a message via. Facebook-I clicked “like” on the same photo”) We have just begun the process to adopt a “special needs” child and I would love to pick your brain a little…
Best,
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
Thanks for dropping by. Adopt A Child is advocating for some seriously cute kids!!! I’ll email you so we can chat. ~B
Could you message me the name of your indy lawyer? We are really interested in adopting, too!
Leisha
Our daughter, whom we adopted 4 1/2 years ago at the age of 6, has an artificial right eye. With the right prosthetic most people cannot even tell now.
Blessings to you on your journey!
–
Delana
http://nineyearpregnancy.wordpress.com
http://delanasworld.wordpress.com
Thanks for commenting Delana! I had never even thought of that particular ‘special need’. Sounds very manageable. My husband is in the prosthetics field, so that was the first special need we had ever considered (limb differences in our case).
Every year she has to have a CT scan because the loss of her eye was due to Retinoblastoma (cancer on the retina). She has been cancer free for a long time but there is always the possibility of it happening on the other eye–or on the tissues remaining in her eye socket. That was part of our faith journey in choosing Jade. No one giving birth to a child is guaranteed they won’t be born with something or develop cancer or something else along the way. During our crisis of faith moment, a friend told us to stop asking if she was the right girl for our family and start asking if we could be the right family for her. That shift in perspective was everything!
Delana
I saw on rr that you adopted from region 16..I too wouldl ove to ‘pick your brain” we have fallen for Ekaterina..but I do have some major questions and would so much appreciate someone to ask.
Would you mind E mailing me? My name is Lauren and the best e mail would be dadhorton@comcast.net. thank you so much!