My ex-MIL put me in touch with a woman she knows who adopted 2 boys from Russia almost 20 years ago. I had a good long conversation with her, about what her experiences were. These boys were supposedly "typical" -- no special needs in their files. They were 2 and 3 years old at the time of the adoption, and they both showed extreme developmental delays, both in growth and in milestones reached. She had no biological children, so this was not only her introduction to adoption, but her first experience with parenting.
I think that the home-study agencies do a much better job today of preparing parents for the kind of delays that adopted children have. Her agency apparently led her to believe that the kids will pretty much just "adjust" and catch up with minimal intervention. Not! She expected the adjustment to be 1-2 years, but says that it took far longer.
There are some who would say that with 5 kids (4 at home) that I have my hands full, and should not take on any more children, especially a child with special needs and institutional delays. On the other hand, I think that my experience with parenting makes me far better prepared for this task than a first-time parent would be.
What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment