Special Needs Adoptions
Kids First International has both the heart and the knowledge for special needs adoptions. “Special needs” can mean countless things as there are so many different types of special needs, and all humans are so unique and different. Each one of us has a degree of special needs as we have strengths in certain areas of development and weaknesses in others. In international adoption, we identify children with special needs as children who have physical, developmental, or psychological delays. Children with special needs may need extra help reaching their full potential; families should consider what medical needs the child has that need to be addressed in a timely and appropriate manner. Families must have the available time, resources, emotional ability, finances, and insurance to provide the best care possible for the child.
As this agency has been doing adoption work for over 23 years, we believe that older children who are being adopted from orphanages and foster care systems should be considered special needs children as well. Older children, in many cases, have the potential to have experienced significant amounts of trauma, separation, and loss of their biological family. Older children have lived in orphanages where peers are not always kind or good to them, and caregivers are coming in and out of their lives.
Where should parents start when exploring the possibility of adopting a child with special needs?
- Think about the age of the child.
- Think about the medical conditions of the child.
- Think about the level of developmental delays in the child that you could work with.
- Think about what level of functioning you would need the child to be when they grow up in order to maintain their wellbeing and provide for them, even when you become old and are unable to care for them.
- Down the line, would your child be able to live independently? What resources can be put in place? Are you in the position to do it?
Certain special needs may require surgeries or therapies so the child has the potential ability to live an independent life as an adult. It is important that the child has the ability, intellectually and physically, to have a job, communicate with the family, and function independently in the real world. There are some children with significant developmental delays, and families need to consider their resources for years to come, even when they are old or no longer living. Sometimes we see children who experience significant developmental delays, and it is unknown on whether they are able to function independently.
Families must ensure that they have the proper resources to care for the child for life. Parenting is a lifelong journey, and when families take on a child, it is their responsibility forever. We are not trying to be negative, and we are not trying to question families’ abilities to parent; we believe that families must have a clear understanding of their long-term journey.
Families should consider, if they have other children at home, the responsibility adopting a child with special needs puts on the other children when they become adults. It is important that the whole family dynamic continues working in a positive way to make families feel that their children are succeeding.
We see a number of families adopting children with significant needs who understand the child’s needs; these families are equipped with resources, understanding what it would take to care for the child in the future. We ask families to consider these things because the goal of our agency is not just to place children, but to ensure that children and the whole family can continue being a close family unit for years to come.
We want to emphasize that our agency believes that all families considering special needs adoption must see a doctor who specializes in adoption medicine and evaluate what they can and cannot do. We work backwards by understanding what it would take for families to parent a child with special needs, then progress from there. Kids First International is committed to walk families through the adoption journey, share all our knowledge, encourage families to consult with specialists, and build their families with a plan for the future.