Every child deserves to have a family, but just one generation ago, many children with disabilities were considered unadoptable.
This was the case when Robin and David Steele met Martha, a young girl with Down syndrome who was living at a children’s home. The couple was told that Martha was unadoptable, which motivated them to advocate for her adoption and to create a program that would help other families adopt children with Down syndrome.
The couple founded the National Down Syndrome Adoption Network, a program that connects expectant or birth families with families looking to adopt a child with Down syndrome and provides information to new parents and prospective parents about the condition.
Today, Stephanie Thompson is the director of NDSAN. Thompson, whose biological son, Christopher, has Down syndrome, has spent more than a decade helping parents navigate the process of adopting a child who has a disability.
Preparation
According to Thompson, the first step is always education. She suggests parents start with the national organization for the child’s disability. For example, if that disability is cerebral palsy, parents would want to start by searching “cerebral palsy national” online.
Once they find that national organization, they should note common comorbidities.
“For a lot of disabilities, there are medical issues that come up that don’t occur for a child who doesn’t have any differences or any disability,” Thompson explains. “For instance, close to 60% of babies born with Down syndrome have a heart defect or a cardiac issue. There might be vision issues. There might be hearing issues.”
Parents can also learn at their own pace with webinars, podcasts and books about the disability and through parenting a child with that disability.
After educating themselves on what kinds of supports the child might need, parents should look for these support services locally.
Thompson says she advises prospective parents to contact support groups in their area to connect and volunteer. She encourages parents to be open, honest and vulnerable. Parents should inform the group that they want to adopt a child who has the disability the group serves and are looking to learn more.
Local support groups can connect parents with volunteering opportunities like respite nights or awareness events and provide insight into local resources for supporting a child with similar needs.
Thompson says parents should use this information to consider how far they are willing to travel if the child needs services that aren’t available locally.
Home Study
After learning about the disability and evaluating whether this kind of adoption is right for your family, it’s time to prove it.
All adoptions in the United States require adoptive parents to participate in a home study. A home study evaluates the capability and suitability of the prospective family. This process is conducted by a social worker or caseworker.
“The social worker should do a really good job of making sure that the family has the experience and the education, and that they are ready to parent a child with that disability,” Thompson says.
Home studies typically conclude with a report detailing the social worker’s findings. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, an information service under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the report includes health and income statements, background checks, references and detailed background information about the family.
Costs
The adoption process has a reputation for being expensive.
Typical adoption fees can run anywhere from $25,000 to $60,000, depending on the type of adoption, according to the Child Welfare Information Gateway.
However, when adopting a child with a disability, this number trends lower, Thompson says. NDSAN estimates costs ranging from $20,000 to $30,000.
“The only reason ours are lower is because we have agencies that understand the special needs process and know that a child who has a disability may be in the newborn intensive care unit for weeks on end,” Thompson says. “Those great agencies help offset the expenses to the family.”
A 2022 study published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing found that children with disabilities experienced higher levels of placement disruption, spent a longer time in foster care and experienced more restrictive placement settings. The same study found that 22% of children in the U.S. foster care system at that time had a medical or disability diagnosis requiring specialized care.
There are no placement fees when adopting or fostering a child through the Department of Social Services. However, there might be attorney fees associated with foster care adoptions. Many states offer reimbursements up to a certain amount and adoption assistance benefits for families who adopt children from foster care. Some employers also offer adoption benefits.
Learn more about what benefits might be available online at childwelfare.gov. Keep these resources in mind during National Adoption Month in November.
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