All children who join adoptive families through international adoption come with some degree of health and developmental risk. This may be due to the circumstances surrounding their birth and placement for adoption, the living conditions they encountered during early childhood, or the lack of background information known about the child and his/her birth family. Even when we receive a lot of information about a particular health or developmental issue, the outcome is often uncertain because of the child's young age, the nature of the issue, or because of differences in diagnostic practices and medical tests in the child's country of origin. Sometimes a child arrives healthier than his/her medical records seemed to indicate; sometimes the opposite is true.
Common Needs
If it can happen to a child, we will usually encounter it sooner or later in the WIC program. The majority of the children we work with have one or two identified special needs, and are otherwise in good health. Below is a list of some of the more commonly-seen medical concerns. You can also find links to web resources where you can research some of these conditions further.
- Cleft lip/cleft palate
- Orthopedic issues (missing fingers/toes; clubfeet; limb differences)
- Congenital heart defects
- Hepatitis B
- Premature/low birth weight
- Alcohol/cigarette use during pregnancy
- Chronic malnourishment
- Hernia (umbilical, inguinal)
- Hearing impairment
- Visual impairment (including nystagmus, esotropia, etc)
- Seizure disorders
- Gastrointestinal problems (often post-operative)
- Neural tube defects (myelomeningocele; spina bifida)
- Cerebral Palsy (usually mild to moderate)
- Delays in physical growth
- Delays in language development
- Intersex (gender of the child is not obvious at birth)
- Genetic syndromes
