Myths and Realities
It's important to understand that "special needs" are really in the eyes of the beholder. Families, public (government) agencies and private agencies, the laws, and the courts may all have very different ideas of what constitutes "special needs."
Adopting Older Children and Children With Special Needs
This is Chapter Eight taken from The Adoption Option Complete Handbook: 2000-2001 by Christine Adamec (Prima Publishing 1999). She gave permission to Peggy Soule, who wrote:
Editor's Note: It's important to understand that "special needs" are really in the eyes of the beholder. Families, public (government) agencies and private agencies, the laws, and the courts may all have very different ideas of what constitutes "special needs." Thus, a family needs to define its own limits but also find out how agency or social worker defines special needs. Some physicians and some social workers consider all children in foster care to have special needs. Keep in mind that medical special needs are very different from social/emotional/behavioral special needs. Many families find medical problems far less daunting than emotional problems.
An experienced adoptive mother and advocate for children with special needs, Peggy Soule provides a realistic view of adopting children from her thirty-three years of experience.
Download the PDF document of Chapter Eight taken from The Adoption Option Complete Handbook: 2000-2001
