News on Special Needs Adoption
Kids With Down Syndrome Caught In US-Russia Clash
Disability Scoop reports on kids in limbo while their adoptions are held up by a new ruling.
Understanding the Profiles of Waiting Children
About.com's guide to adoption defines some of the terms used to describe special needs in children waiting for adoption. (9/14/11)
John's Voice
Warning: This story from MyYESNetwork, about the reunion of two young men with cerebral palsy who were children together in a Russian orphanage, will make you cry. (8/2/11)
About Terri Mauro and Her Special Needs Adoptions
I was interviewed by Danette Schott of S-O-S for Parents about my adoption, for Adoption Awareness Month. Take a look. (11/22/10)
Volcano Complicates Adoption of Child With Down Syndrome
There's been a lot in the news lately about ash from the volcano in Iceland wreaking havoc on European air travel, and a lot in the news lately about Eastern European adoption gone awry. Cross those two stories, and what do you get? Two women trapped in a Bulgarian hotel room with a just-adopted special-needs child and no way to get home. (4/19/10)
No Easy Answers for Eastern European Adoption
Parenting is never risk-free. Trying to guarantee success can end up doing more harm than good. (4/14/10)
Length of time in institutional care may influence children's learning
From Science Blog: "The take-home message: Children make tremendous advances in cognitive functioning once they reach their adoptive families, but the impact of early deprivation on their brains' development is difficult to reverse completely." (2/5/10)
To Hug a Porcupine
From Broward/Palm Beach News: "Three little boys set out to destroy the parents who loved them. This isn't how adoption is supposed to work." (10/12/09)
Is It Wrong to Choose Special Needs to Speed Up an Adoption?
In the end, it's often not so much a question of "Will you accept a child with special needs in order to speed things up?" as "Will you reject a child who's ready for a parent right now just because he or she has special needs?" There's nothing heroic about welcoming that waiting child, or foolhardy either. For a lot of us, it's just a matter of parenting the child in front of you. (9/29/09)
Actress Heigl Among Growing Ranks Adopting Special Needs Babies
From Disability Scoop: "Actress Katherine Heigl’s decision to adopt a baby with special needs puts her among a growing group of parents willing to take in a child with medical issues rather than wait years for a healthy baby." (9/23/09)
Katherine Heigl adopts a kid with special needs, people show ignorance
From To the Max: "I just saw photos on Celebrity Baby Blog of Naleigh, the 10-month-old girl actress Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley adopted from Korea. Katherine's mentioned that Naleigh has special needs. I was fascinated and horrified by the comments on the post." (9/19/09)
Actress Katherine Heigl To Adopt Baby With Special Needs
From Disability Scoop: "The Grey’s Anatomy star announced on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Friday that she and her husband, Josh Kelley, are adopting a nearly 10-month-old girl from Korea." (9/12/09)
Heigl and husband adopting 'special needs baby'
From Disability News: "Appearing on The Ellen Degeneres Show, actress Katherine Heigl announced that she and husband Josh Kelley are adopting a baby girl with disabilities from Korea." (9/12/09)
CDC Tuberculosis Rule Slows International Adoption
From NPR: "A new rule from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has some Americans leaving China and Ethiopia without the children they adopted there." (8/25/09)
Why adopt a child with a disability?
From Disability News: "Over at the New York Times Motherlode blog, commenters are hotly debating the motives of a Texas woman who plans to adopt a six-year-old Chinese girl with scoliosis. The comments were prompted by the first in a series of guest posts by Jenny Staff Johnson about her adoption journey." (7/3/09)
Adopting children from abroad can be scary at times
Boston.com looks at the special needs of older children adopted from abroad (like mine). (7/10/08)
TB on the rise among international adoptees
"Tuberculosis infection is on the rise among internationally adopted children, a new study shows." (9/13/07)
Early deprivation has long-lasting effects: study
"Severe malnourishment and other forms of deprivation for sustained periods during a child's early years may have lasting consequences on his or her intellectual development in later childhood, results of a new study show." (6/1/06)