Special Needs Adoption

Adopting a Child with Mental or Physical Problems

Adoptive parents often seek infants rather than older children, children of the same race, and children without any mental or physical problems. Therefore governments and agencies actively look for people to adopt older children and children with special needs. Children with 'special needs' refer to children with disabilities (emotional, mental or physical), children that belong to a minority race, older children, siblings, and children who are at-risk.

Especially Needy Children

Disabilities

Disabilities may come in mental, physical and emotional varieties, of which behavioral issues are always a subset of emotional disabilities. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, it is also estimated that anywhere from around 30 to 50 percent of children awaiting adoption have a developmental disability.

Minority Race

Some agencies consider affiliation to a minority race as a 'special need' when not enough families have adopted children of this certain race.

Age

Different states put different limits on the maximum age at which a child can be considered as having special needs.

Sibling Status

Groups of two or more siblings with little or no disabilities are usually easy to place. This usually falls under the special needs category when other factors (age, race, etc.) are present.

At-Risk

Children who are at risk of developing physical, behavioral, emotional, or learning problems in the future are considered to be children with special needs. Such children include those who have been subjected to drugs, abuse or neglect. They also include those who have genetic pre-dispositions to mental disabilities and physical illness.

You Are Not Alone

Parents adopting such children from the foster care system can often avail of adoption subsidies, or Adoption Assistance Payments (AAP). AAP are made monthly to adoptive parents and the amount is based solely on how serious the child's disabilities are. This subsidy is not compensation; it is meant to defray some of the expenses accrued raising the children, not reimburse the entire cost.

The subsidy program, created in 1980, has been very successful in boosting adoption of especially needy children and reforming the foster care system. Studies show that even a child who has full subsidy encourages savings in the long run by keeping institution populations down.

Unfortunately, internationally adopted children are not eligible for this subsidy. Some states used to allow this, but the laws have changed and the possibility of getting a subsidy for especially needy children from another race has been eliminated. However, if a transracial adoption dissolves - that is, fails after having legally been completed - the child enters the U.S. foster care system and he or she becomes qualified for the subsidy the moment he or she enters another adoptive home.

Since laws are always changing, prospective adoptive individuals or families should ask an attorney or agency if their internationally-adopted children may qualify for any other programs.

A child in foster care should have a Title IV-E eligibility checklist, which will show whether or not he or she qualifies for AAP subsidy. There are also state-funded subsidies, should the child not be eligible for the AAP program. It's best to consult an adoption attorney or agency regarding local laws.

Caring for a Special-Needs Child

As with any other child, the adopted special-needs child requires a lot of commitment and love from the adoptive parents. The parents who seek adoption of a special needs child are often different in profile than those who adopt healthy infants.

They often already have large families with biological and/or adopted or foster children, and have had previous experience with the whole adoption process, school systems and health care professionals. They see themselves as successful at parenting, with the necessary skills to care for a 'challenged' child. Their motive is usually to uplift the quality of life for the family member with special needs.

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