I visited my preschool mentor teacher the other day and our discussion got me thinking. The preschool is designed for children with disabilities. When I was there it was challenging at times. There were several students with severe disabilities. As we were talking about some of the children that were in the class last year and how they are doing, my thoughts turned to one particular student. He was diagnosed with severe emotional and behavioral disabilities. I found out that he did not transition to a general education kindergarten classroom. His parents are struggling to give him the support he needs along with his two siblings. What got me thinking was that this young boy was adopted as an infant by this couple. They knew at the time that the birth mother did use drugs when she was pregnant but I don’t know if they or anyone could have expected or predicted the extent of his disabilities. Does this cause even greater stress? Some may adopt a child knowing that there may be disabilities present but what if you are unaware when you adopt?

There was a wealth of information about adopting children with disabilities and/or how to cope with having adopted a child with a disability online. The NICHCY had an 8 page resource guide specifically for foster or adoptive families.  The NICHCY provides links to more resources, information, and organizations that families can utilize. I found the information to be thorough and very informative.

I plan on looking into this topic a bit more. I did not find any research studies during my initial search but I will continue to explore.

The NICHCY site is a wonderful resource for families and educators. I will use this site in the future to assist with finding resources, support groups, organizations, and information. It would be beneficial to visit this site.

http://nichcy.org