The health needs of the adopted and sponsored child
Sponsored and adopted children have special needs, some of whom may have additional needs resulting from problems or disabilities.
Children adopted from foster care experience trauma and loss, even if they are adopted soon after birth. Some may have additional needs resulting from physical, mental, or emotional problems or disabilities.
When he finds a possible match between a person and a child, it is often an exciting moment. It is important that the person discovers as much as possible the child's health history and needs so that if he decides to proceed with this match, he is surrounding the child's situation as much as possible. Having realistic expectations increases the chances of a successful adoption.
The health history of the adopted child
When children start or if there is a plan to adopt them, they are required by law to conduct a comprehensive health assessment, which should ideally include:
Antenatal history, childbirth, and early developmental historyfamily medical history
Sometimes it can be difficult to get all this information. For example, the original parents may not want to share information about their child if they are dissatisfied with the plans for fostering or adoption. Sometimes they may be missing, or the father may be unknown. The lack of complete health information makes it difficult to understand a child's difficulties and predict what will happen in the future. But the medical evaluations that a child undergoes throughout their time in care means that there must be informed about their health when it is time for them to be adopted and fostered.
Guardianship Planning Requirements:
If the adoption is proceeding, a copy of the health assessment report will be sent to the child's doctor as well as the adoptee or sponsor. The adopter may wish to discuss this report with their physician, or they may ask their physician to speak to a medical advisor on their behalf. This can happen even after a bail decision has been issued.
Parents of older foster children often find medical appointments particularly difficult for a post-custodial child, because adoption often comes up, for example, if a doctor asks about a family medical history. The child can be helped to feel more comfortable by doing anything that can be done to make the appointment go smoothly, such as making sure in advance that the doctor is aware of the situation.
Delayed growth in foster children
The extent of developmental delays in children taken into care can vary greatly. The delay may be physical or emotional, or both—children may behave younger than their age, or they may be unable to do things that most children their age can do. Or their delay may be related to a specific area, such as speech.
The following factors can cause developmental delays in foster or adopted children: fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) or fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
Different babies have different levels of resilience to delays caused by trauma in the womb, abuse, or neglect after birth. They also demonstrate different capacities to overcome this shock and catch up developmentally.
The long-term impact of these delays can be difficult to predict. This means that potential adopters need to accept that there is a possibility that their adopted child will need specialized support services in the future. This requires a lot of perseverance, patience, and determination on the part of parents to help children overcome the difficulties they face, and there is also support available for the post-anabolic phase.
Raising neglected children
While some children in the care system have experienced physical or sexual abuse at some point in their lives, many are cared for because their basic needs are neglected. Studies have shown that neglect, such as depriving children of food or care, is often more harmful to a child than individual incidents of abuse.
Professor Peter Fonagy, chief executive of the Anna Freud Center in London, which researches attachment disorders and child mental health, says: In fact, it turns out that the more dramatic causes of caring for children, such as sexual or physical abuse, are to suffer less toxic than prolonged neglect. duration. Neglect is more severe and more likely to be overlooked by other adults in the child's life.
Both abuse and neglect can lead to psychological problems in children, including issues about trust in adults, which can take several years to overcome. Prof Fonagy explains that this happens because they are in a state of "hyper-alertness". "Children who have had bad experiences, especially in care, are on high alert and don't believe anything anyone says to them because they don't trust them," says Fonagy. They are closed. They understand what they are told but will not take it as true in their own world, and they cannot modify their beliefs that they are unloved or that they are "bad."
That's why an adopted child needs more than love and care from their adoptive parents. "I am determined that the underrecognition of psychological problems in adopted children must end, and there are good treatments available for many childhood mental disorders," says Fonagy, who is involved in a new program to promote access to psychological therapies for children and young adults.
Ask your local authority or social worker about available remedial education courses such as play therapy, life story work, association trauma courses, and TAPPS
Eating anxiety in adopted children
Cared for and adopted children often have eating anxiety related to their early experiences.
This condition includes:
For example, a child suffering from undernourishment or not feeding regularly can lead to overeating or hoarding of food even after they have been placed with their foster families. The reason for this is that they may not have complete confidence that another meal will come.
Learn more about eating disorders.
Adopting and fostering a child with medical conditions, disabilities, or special or additional needs
There are many children with complex medical conditions who need foster families.
Those with conditions such as cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, or Down syndrome need parents who can meet their needs and act as effective "supporters" to make sure their child gets the service he or she needs.
Some children have conditions related to their caregivers, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) or symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Many of these children also have needs related to the trauma of neglect or abuse, in addition to their own physical or medical difficulties.
In addition, some children may be susceptible to certain psychological conditions, such as depression or anxiety, which can be inherited. Some rare conditions that may arise in adolescence or later may have genetic risk factors, such as mental illness.
Questions to ask the foster agency, medical advisor, and social worker, and if so, what measures are included in the report? Is it because he doesn't have any special educational needs or because he doesn't?