Special Needs Adoption

Adopting Children with Developmental Disabilities

Topics

• Developmental Disabilities and Adoption
• What Is a Developmental Disability?
• Types of Disabilities
• Challenges of Adopting a Child with Developmental Disabilities
• Sources of Support and Information

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Developmental Disabilities and Adoption

Estimates of children who are awaiting adoption (legally free) indicate that anywhere from 30 - 50% have a developmental disability. However, these children are not a homogeneous group. Their physical, cognitive and social characteristics may differ considerably. Each child's diagnosis and/or classification are coupled with their individual uniqueness. Children with developmental disabilities, like all children, benefit from the love and stability that come from belonging to permanent families.

Families adopting children with developmental disabilities often have different motivations from those adopting healthy infants. Couples faced with infertility, who choose adoption as an option, are looking for a healthy baby and the opportunity to create their family.

Adoptive parents seeking children with disabilities have different goals and characteristics. Often, these adoptive parents already have large families with many biological children and/or other adopted or foster children. They see themselves as successful parents equipped with the special skills necessary to parent a "challenged" child. These adoptive families also tend to have had previous experience with health care professionals, school systems and administrators that helps them to navigate systems to advocate on behalf of their children. The parents know from their personal experience that every child is different and that all children have at least one difficulty - some are just more serious than others. The motivation shifts for these families from wanting to adopt infants to form a family to providing for the quality of life for additional family members.

Families who have adopted children with developmental disabilities talk about the "incredible joy" the children bring to them. They describe them as having enriched their families in ways they could never have imagined. Parents derive tremendous satisfaction from helping their child make developmental gains and each accomplishment is a cause for celebration. However, parents must also balance the fine line between following their protective instincts and helping their child achieve greater independence.

What Is a Developmental Disability?

According to the Federal Developmental Disabilities Act of 1984, Public Law 98-527, Sec. 102(7), a developmental disability is a severe, chronic disability which:

• is attributable to a mental or physical impairment or combination of mental and physical impairments;
• is manifested before age 22;
• is likely to continue indefinitely;
• results in substantial functional limitations in three or more of the following areas of major life activity:
  • self-care
  • receptive and expressive language
  • learning
  • mobility
  • self-direction
  • capacity for independent living
  • economic sufficiency
• reflects the person's need for a combination and sequence of special, interdisciplinary, or generic care, treatment, or other services which are of lifelong or extended duration and are individually planned and coordinated.

Within each disability there is a range in conditions from mild to severe. Several handicapping conditions are most associated with developmental disabilities - two of which, mental retardation and cerebral palsy affect the most children with the greatest severity.

Challenges of Adopting a Child with Developmental Disabilities

Those who have adopted children with disabilities feel that they receive more from the experience than they give. Adoptive parents need a special awareness to understand that parenting children with developmental disabilities can require a different kind of lifetime commitment in terms of the amount of continued care and support the child may need as an adult. The challenges don't go away, rather they shift at different developmental ages and stages. Nonetheless, it takes a person with specific abilities and an optimistic attitude to help a child with developmental disabilities reach his or her full potential.

Joan and Bernard McNamara, authors of The Special Child Handbook, are the parents of six children, five of whom have special needs. Of these, four are adopted. The McNamaras suggest that some combination of the following qualities is helpful in parenting a child with developmental disabilities:

• You like children and enjoy the challenge of raising a family. If you are not a parent already, you may have had other kinds of exposure to children, through volunteer work, teaching, or your own extended family, that have given you an insight into the daily realities of parenting.
• You are a flexible person. You usually deal with frustration with patience and are open to changes in your expectations and lifestyle.
• You are able to view people for what they can accomplish, not what they cannot, and you value them according to their own potentials.
• You have had contact with people who have disabilities.

The task of finding resources in terms of services and support is added to the challenge of finding out who you are and who the child is. Adoptive parent groups assist with all of these issues. They provide a unique setting to help parents share, understand, and manage the complexities they face. The groups offer educational, social, and support services, sometimes including respite care. They can refer to other information systems in the community, such as specialized organizations like the National Down Syndrome Congress or the United Cerebral Palsy Association. In addition, more adoption agencies and adoptive parent groups are providing post-adoption and counseling services.

Financial assistance is available to most families who adopt children who have disabilities and can include monthly cash payments, medical costs, some specialized services and adoption-related expenses. This assistance is available through state Departments of Public Welfare and is usually arranged before the adoption occurs. More information is available in the Child Welfare Information Gateway publication "Subsidized Adoption: A Source of Help for Children With Special Needs and Their Families" or via North American Council on Adoptable Children's NAATRIN program information on adoption subsidy. The National Adoption Assistance Training, Resource, and Information Network (NAATRIN) offers support and information without charge to adoptive and foster parents, adoption professionals, and other child advocates who have questions about Title IV-E Adoption Assistance. NAATRIN can be contacted by telephone toll-free at 800-470-6665, e-mail to NACAC@aol.com, or online at http://www.nacac.org/adoptionsubsidy.html.

What Parents Say

The McNamaras sum up this special type of parenting when they say, "...most parents who have adopted children with special needs agree that the positive growth of their whole family through adoption has been a cherished opportunity and one they would enthusiastically repeat. Adopting children with special needs means opening yourself to a loving challenge and to the gifts they bring".

Sources of Support and Information

A complete resource listing of national organizations and information and referral sources entitled "Resources for Families and Children with Disabilities" is also available from Child Welfare Information Gateway.

This material may be reproduced and distributed without permission, however, appropriate citation must be given to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.

Updated on November 13, 2002

The information on this page is used with the permission of the Child Welfare Information Gateway. http://www.childwelfare.gov