On my post, Facing Parenting a Child with a Special Need, a reader left the following comment:

Can anyone suggest an objective criteria for choosing a child and/or birthmother? I should be approved to adopt (open-adoption) in Feb 2008. I'll be a first-time father. Naturally, there is the healthy / problematic-baby choice, and the prenatal care / no prenatal cared-mother choice, but is that the only criteria I should be using? I'm... more

On my post, Hoping to Adopt a Cute Child, Chromesthesia posted the following comment:

All babies are cute. I'm looking into Special Needs adoption. I go to do more research on it though. - Chromesthesia

Chromesthesia is wise to do a lot of research before choosing to adopt a child with special needs. Parenting a child with special needs is hard work, and hopeful adoptive parents need to enter into the adoption with their eyes wide... more

One health risk that I have never addressed on this blog is adopting a child with no health history available. On my post, Adoption Regrets: Health Risks on the Adoptive Parenting blog, John left the following comment:

Faith, there is another group of kids, probably unique to older child or international adoption, kids without any medical history. You are signing up for whatever may show up in the future. Its hard to see that as a decison, they are healthy now,... more

When my husband and I went through the adoption process, we had to sign a paper stating that we understood that our adopted child was not "warranted" to be healthy for the rest of his life. Of course, the terminology used was less blunt, but that was the basic gist. The social worker also talked to us about this issue face-to-face, stating that while the adoption agency was responsible for accurately representing the health of the child at the time of placement, the agency could not guarantee that health issues would not arise later. The social worker even provided an example... more

I hope that my overview of potential health issues was informative and that I did not scare anyone away from adopting. LOL My goal was to arm you with the facts as you work your way through the adoption application. I wish that I had access to an overview like this when I was going through the adoption process myself. I would have been in a much better place to make informed decisions about the risks that I was and was not willing to consider in a placement. Instead, my husband and I wound up “winging it,” saying yes,... more

Sickle Cell Anemia

Source of Information: Teens Health

What Is It?

A hereditary disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry. It is a blood disorder that affects hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells that helps carry oxygen throughout the body.

What Causes It?

Inheriting two abnormal genes (one from... more

Retardation

Source of Information: Kids Health

What Is It?

Lower than average intelligence.

What Causes It?

Something injures the brain, or a problem prevents the brain from developing normally.

Some possible causes include…

Alcohol or drug use during pregnancy Certain infections or sickness... more

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Source of Information: Webmd.com

What Is It?

An aftereffect of being traumatized.

What Causes It?

Trauma, such as child abuse or suffering any sort of traumatic event, such as a near-death experience.

What are the Symptoms/Risks?

Children... more

Muscular Dystrophy

Source of Information: Kids Health for Parents

What Is It?

A genetic disorder that gradually weakens the body’s muscles.

What Causes It?

Incorrect or missing genetic information that prevents the body from making necessary proteins to build and maintain healthy muscles.

What Are the Symptoms/Risks?

Children... more

Mental Disorders

Note: Our adoption application lumped all mental disorders together and only mentioned schizophrenia. I will discuss bipolar as well since that is also a common mental illness

Source of Information:

Bipolar: Webmd.com Schizophrenia: Webmd.com

What... more