Opening Your Home to A Special Needs or Transracial Adoption

Adopting a child is a like having a two-way gift.  You give the child a better chance at life by participating actively in his or her care and the child in turn, gives you the unmatched joy that only children can give to their parents.  If you're considering a special needs or transracial adoption, there are certain things you must know, mainly because there are certain legal requirements that you'll have to comply with and certain emotional issues that you will be facing later on.

Special needs adoption

Special needs children up for adoption have a specific physical, emotional or mental need. Oftentimes, a special needs child up for adoption has more than one disability.  Couples looking to care for children with special needs should be aware that these children will need extra special care, even more than a healthy, normal child will require.

Should you decide to open your home to a special needs child, be prepared physically and emotionally for the task.  Learn about the child's disability/ies to make sure you have the proper knowledge with which to deal with the situation.  Also, most adoption and social service agencies require prospective adoptive parents to have this background in order to assure the child of a healthy, nurturing environment where the parents will know how to care for them.

Transracial adoption

Adopting a child of another race or ethnic background can be a wonderful experience for adoptive parents.  In the U.S., transracial adoption is also referred to as transcultural adoption and often involves children who were born in other countries in Asia, South America, Africa or the Caribbean.

Pros and cons of special needs and transracial adoptions

Before deciding on adopting children with special needs or those coming from other countries, it's important for adoptive parents to learn about the advantages and disadvantages.  Here are some of them:

Pros

There are fewer Caucasian children available for adoption and more children needing special care or coming from other countries that need your care and attention, so you will have more choices in terms of gender and age.  Most of these children are also often abandoned or orphaned, so you have no reason to fear that the birthmother might appear with a change of heart.

There is also a time frame you can work on (usually 1 to 1 ½ years), longer if you have special preferences as to the child's gender and age.  With transracial adoptions, you also learn about your adoptive child's culture and maybe even travel to meet him or her.

Cons

Special needs children need special care and sometimes, medical treatment while a child from another country might require you to expose him to his own culture.  It will be quite a challenge to you as a first time adoptive parent of a special needs child or a transracial adoptive child.  If you prefer a newborn, you probably won't get it.  Most children up for adoption are often at least three months to a year old, maybe more.

There is also the challenge of not knowing what your adoptive child's family health history is because most of that information may either be lost or unavailable.  Of course, you will receive your adoptive child's own medical history, but you probably won't have anything that would refer to his biological mother or father.

For special needs adoption, there are also children who might have serious health conditions, some of which will require long term medical care and attention, such as cancer, heart diseases or HIV.

Adopting through social services

If you know of other adoptive parents, you probably already have an idea of the time, effort and cost of adopting.  If you inform your local social services of your intention to adopt, be prepared to undergo and complete a series of forms, interviews and background checks.  With transracial adoptions, there are also plenty of apostilles, dossiers, translation services and other documentation, making the process more complicated than local adoption.

There are also certain requirements you will have to meet and laws and regulations you will have to comply with.  Certain countries and adoption agencies, for example, require certain age ranges, religious affiliations, marital and economic status and even weight range.  Certain countries such as Slovakia and Indonesia, also require long term residencies which can last from one to two years.

If you decide to participate in a special needs and transracial adoption, make sure you are physically and mentally prepared.  The adoption process is only the initial stage of the challenge of bringing up a child – the rest is yet to come.  However, once you have overcome this hurdle, you will have a wonderful chance to share your life with a child who is special in many ways.