I’m starting a new blog series– Special Needs Sunday. I’ve partnered with several adoptive families to tell their stories and advocate for special needs adoption. Each week will feature a different child, family and special need(s) and we will cover medical needs, physical needs, and developmental disabilities. I’ve asked the families to write up their answers in either a Q&A format or a story-like format. The questions I’ve chosen are commonly asked questions when a family is considering adopting a child with special needs– what is day to day life like, what are the costs associated, etc.
There are two purposes of this blog series:
- To help families share the reality of parenting a child with special needs.
- To advocate and encourage families to be open to special needs when adopting.
Are you ready to learn? Any specific needs that you’d like to hear about?
a moose in moscow 
I have some questions about kids with less visible medical needs – like HIV, Hep B, etc., especially if they don’t show obvious symptoms of illness. What is the day-to-day like? What do kids coming from EE orphanages usually know about their health issues? How do you talk to a kid about his/her medical issues, especially in the early stages of adoption when there is not only a language barrier but a learning curve in terms of physical privacy/etc.? What are some questions kids have about their health?
If you’d like, I could answer questions on the ADA, IDEA, etc.