Definition of Special Needs (for the purpose of Adoption)
Committee on children with ‘Special Needs’ – Various recommendations finalizes on 22nd March 2005 .
To define Children with “Special Needs” and to work out broad Guidelines for their effective placement.
Objectives
It is important to understand that a child with special needs requires, more than any other child, the care, and love of a family at the earliest. Great care must be taken to effect these placements. A child with ‘Special Needs’ is a child who without medical, physical, emotional or developmental intervention will not be able to reach his full potential. It is our objective to enable every such child to reach his full potential by providing guidelines to the placement agencies to enable them to provide prudent, efficient and speedy placement.
Profile of suitable parents aspiring to adopt a child with Special Needs:
No child should be disadvantaged in securing a permanent family placement because of the lack of the ability of an agency to make such a placement. The child should be transferred to an agency who can effectively handle Special Needs placements. Children with special needs have the same right as any other child to a secure and permanent family relationship. When an older child joins a new family, there are both joys and challenges for the child, parent and other family members. It is indeed wonderful to see a child settle into a new family and to make enduring links with other family members, friends and neighbours. Children who join permanent care of adoptive families at an older age may bring many of the stressful experiences of their earlier lives into their new families. Their behavior may become very disruptive and sometimes aggressive and they can be indiscriminate and inappropriate in their relationships with family members and other people.
The parents must attend appropriate pre-adoption courses to understand issues relating to these children. They must have an orientation on the culture/language/food of the country from which their child comes. They should be urged not to change the name of the older child, so as to help the child keep his/her identity; to try and keep with the child’s cultural roots if possible; to come with the child and see for themselves the Children’s Home/City etc. from which the child came and interact freely with his/her caretakers; keep contact with the agency for as long as the child feels the need; keep connected with other children adopted from the same orphanage if possible and if the child so wishes . In the case of handicapped children, the family needs to research the medical facts on the condition and source the best medical treatment from the area in which they live.