Adopting a Child with Special Needs

• Adopting the Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special Needs Kids, Gregory Keck and Robin Kupecky
• Adopting the Older Child, Claudia Jewett
• Adoption Parenting, Jean McLeod
  Over 100 contributors helped EMK Press compile advice specifically for adoptive parents.
• Attachment Trauma and Healing: Understanding and Treating Attachment Disorder in Children and Families, Terry Levy and Michael Orlans
• Beyond Consequences, Logic, and Control:  A Love-Based Approach to Helping Attachment-Challenged Children with Severe Behaviors, Heather T. Forbes  and B. Bryan Post
• Beyond Good Intentions: A Mother Reflects on Raising Internationally Adopted Children, Cheri Register
  A collection of essays with an honest look at some of the issues that transracial and international adoptive parents must face.
• The Body Keeps the Score:  Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.
• Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children, Daniel Hughes
• China Ghosts: My Daughter’s Journey to America, My Passage to Fatherhood, Jeff Gammage
• The Connected Child:  Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family, Dr. Karyn Purvis
• The Connected Parent:  Real-Life Strategies for Building Trust and Attachment, Dr. Karyn Purvis
• Damaged Angels: An Adoptive Mother Discovers the Tragic Toll of Alcohol in Pregnancy, Bonnie Buxton
• The Deepest Well:  Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity, Nadine Burke Harris
• Dim Sum, Bagels and Grits: A Sourcebook for Multicultural Families, Myra Alperson
  Written by a Jewish mother of a Chinese daughter, drawing on extensive interviews of transracial families.
• Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline:  The 7 Basic Skills for Turning Conflict, Becky A. Bailey
• From Fear to Love:  Your Essential Guide to Parenting Adopted and Foster Children, B. Bryan Post
• The Handbook of International Adoption, Dr. Laurie Miller
  An overview of medical and developmental issues affecting internationally adopted children; provides guidelines for physicians and families before, during, and after adoption.
• How To Talk So Your Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk, Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
• Inside Transracial Adoption, Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall
  Designed to support transracial parents during that lifelong learning process. Includes real-life examples and specific strategies for success. Written primarily from the perspective of Caucasian parents adopting African American children domestically.
• I Wish for You a Beautiful Life: Letters from Korean Birthmothers to Their Children, Sara Dorow
• A Long Way Home: A Boy’s Incredible Journey from India to Australia and Back Again, Saroo Brierly
• Love in the Driest Season, Neely Tucker
  A family’s memoir of adoption from Zimbabwe.
• Make Me a Mother, Susan Antonetta
  A memoir written by the author describing her adoption from Korea.
• The Mystery of Risk: Drugs, Alcohol Dependency and the Vulnerable Child, Ira Chasnoff
• Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma, Deborah Gray
• Once They Hear My Name: Korean Adoptees and Their Journeys Toward Identity, Ellen Lee, Marilyn Lammert, and Mary Ann Hess
• Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child, Trish Maskew
  This book thoroughly explores both the joys and the challenges of older child adoption, whether domestically or internationally.
• The Out-Of-Sync Child Grows Up: Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder in the Adolescent and Young Adult Years, Carol Kranowitz
• The Out-Of-Sync Child Has Fun, Carol Kranowitz
• The Out-Of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder, Carol Kranowitz
• The Post-Adoption Blues:  Overcoming the Unforeseen Challenges of Adoption, Karen J. Foli and John R. Thompson
  A compassionate, illuminating, and ultimately uplifting book that openly recognizes the very normal feelings of stress that adoptive families encounter as they cope with the challenges and expectations of their new families.
• Parenting Children With Health Issues: Essential Tools, Tips, and Tactics for Raising Kids with Chronic Illness, Medical Conditions, and Special Healthcare Needs, Foster W. Cline and Lisa Greene
• Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child: From Your First Hours Together Through The Teen Years, Patty Cogen
• Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids: How To Stop Yelling and Start Connecting, Dr. Laura Markhkam
• Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings: How to Stop the Fighting and Raise Friends for Life, Dr. Laura Markham
• Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder, Dr. Lucy Jane Miller
  Dr. Miller brings together a lifetime of study to teach parents and others the signs and symptoms of SPD and its four major subtypes; ways the disorder is diagnosed and treated; sensory strategies for living with the condition; and methods to help SPD kids thrive.
• Siblings Without Rivalry: How to Help Your Children Live Together So You Can Live Too, Adele Farber and Elaine Mazlish
• Special Needs, Special Families, Avis Coleman
  This book is a compilation of stories about families who struggled with the health or development of a child and turned their efforts into triumphs.
• Traumatic Experience and the Brain: A Handbook For Understanding and Treating Those Traumatized as Children, Dave Ziegler
• The Unofficial Guide to Adoptive Parenting, Sally Donovan
• Voices from Another Place: A Collection of Works from a Generation Born in Korea and Adopted to Other Countries, Susan Soon-Keum Cox
  A collection of works by adult adoptees adopted from Korea.
• A Wealth of Family: An Adopted Son’s International Quest for Heritage, Reunion and Enrichment, Thomas Brooks
• What Happened To You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, Oprah Winfrey and Bruce D. Perry
• The Whole Brain Child, Daniel J. Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson
  In this practical book, Daniel J. Siegel, neuropsychiatrist and parenting expert Tina Payne Bryson offer an approach to child-rearing with 12 key strategies that foster healthy brain development, leading to calmer, happier children.
• W.IS.E. Up! Powerbook, created by The Center for Adoption Support and Education
• Wounded Children Healing Homes: How Traumatized Children Impact Foster and Adoptive Families, Jayne Schooler and Betsey Keefer Smalley

Online book resources:

• EMK Press, Adoption Books and Resources
• Tapestry Books, International Adoption Archives
• Woodbine House, Publisher of the Special Needs Collection

• Best Buddies
• Center for Attachment & Trauma Therapy
  Lynne Lyon, MSW, LCSW, is an adoptive mother, has been an attachment advocate and educator since 1999. She is the founder of Attach-China/International Parent’s Network, a website and online support group for parents whose internationally and domestically adopted children suffer from attachment impairment, trauma, and the effects of institutionalization. While based in New Jersey, she does offer phone and Skype consultations as well.
• Council for Exceptional Children
• Early Intervention Services
  These services are typically available for children through the age of three who need extra developmental assistance at little to no cost through your state EIS programs.  Each state’s programs differ, so be sure to check guidelines for your specific state.
• Easter Seals
  Easter Seals provides services, education, outreach, and advocacy to help people special needs live, learn, work and play in their communities.  Easter Seals has a Child Development Center Network which provides inclusive child care for children with special needs.  They serve thousands of children in a setting where children with disabilities and special needs comprise 25 percent of enrollment and provide resources to help them become as independent as possible.
• Families with Children from China (FCC) Greater New York
  FCC is a network of parent support groups sharing the following three goals: to support families who’ve adopted in China through post-adoption and Chinese culture programs; to encourage adoption from China and support waiting families; and to advocate for and support children remaining in orphanages in China. FCC groups typically are involved with some of the following type activities: newsletters, membership directories, family picnics and potluck suppers, celebrations of Chinese festivals and holidays, pre-adoption information meetings, playgroups, Chinese language and culture classes for children, parent speakers, etc.
• Family Voices
• Federation for Children with Special Needs
• Friendship Circle
• Government Services for Children with Disabilities
  Includes child care options, child protective services, child support enforcement, money management, financial assistance for families, health insurance programs, mental health services, health and safety resources.
• The M.O.R.G.A.N. Project
• Move United
• National Youth Leadership Network
• Pacer Center
• Parent to Parent USA

• Attach-China/International
  This organization is devoted to educating parents of internationally adopted children about post-adoption issues, especially those related to Reactive-Attachment Disorder and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
• The Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE)
  This nonprofit group’s mission is to strengthen the well-being of foster and adoptive families, promote adoption awareness, enhance adoption sensitivity, and develop the skills for professionals and families to empower children to thrive.
• Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care
  Associated with the American Academy of Pediatrics, this group is dedicated to improving the health and well being of children and youth in foster care, kinship care, and those who have been adopted.
• Creating a Family
  This nonprofit group is dedicated to providing unbiased accurate education and support for infertility or adoption.
• International Child Amputee Network (I-CAN)
  I-CAN was established to provide information and support to children with absent or underdeveloped limbs and their parents.
• KidsHealth
  KidsHealth provides information and support for a variety of physical, emotional, and behavioral issues that affect children and teens. Information is presented in three sections for parents, children, and teens.
• LWB Community Blog
  Love Without Boundaries’ blog, LWB Community, features stories on various topics related to adoption and the children served by LWB programs.
• Mayo Clinic
  The Mayo Clinic website offers a database of thousands of medical conditions, providing descriptions, symptoms, treatment options, and prognoses.
• RainbowKids.com
  This site provides adoption information, adoption articles, and waiting child photolistings.
• Special Education Guide
  The Special Education Guide is a go-to resource for mastering the terminology, procedures, and best practices in special education so that parents and teachers have the right information, tools, and support to help children with special needs unleash their full potential.
• Special Needs Parenting Handbook
  Published by Cheri Larson, this online handbook offers resources for parents at every stage of the journey of caring for their special needs children… from learning more about special needs to picking a school, planning a financial future, and getting past the bullying and discrimination that so often plague people with special needs.
• US Department of State
  All U.S. families who wish to bring home a child from a foreign country must gain approval through the Citizen and Immigration services. The U.S. Department of State has an adoption resources page to help walk you through the legal steps required by the U.S. government.
• US Immigration: A How to for International Adoptions
  From this website: “Adoption is a highly compassionate and rewarding act and in recent years it has become more and more popular to adopt from foreign countries. This process presents its own difficulties and complications and it requires prospective parents to spend quite a bit of time researching so that they can be sure that everything develops smoothly. At the end of this article you can find a list of useful links as a jumping-off point for your research.”
• VACTERL Association Support Group
  This group is a support group dedicated to helping families affected by VACTERL/VATER Association. The word VACTERL is made up of the areas that are affected by the condition, with each letter standing for a particular area affected (vertebral, anal, cardio, tracheo-esophageal, renal, limb).

• Adoption Nutrition
  Created by the SPOON Foundation, this site states it is the go-to nutrition and feeding resource for adoptive and foster families.
• Adoption Parenting Pathways
  This site offers a searchable database to help parents find adoption-related information and support. Information about adoption camps, retreats, therapists, and support groups is available.
• ATTACh
  National and international coalition of parents, professionals and caregivers with the know-how to increase awareness and understanding about attachment and its critical importance in human development.
• Connect-A-Kid
  This organization is committed to providing adopted kids everywhere with a safe and monitored mentorship program that provides a comfortable outlet to which they can look for support, advice, or companionship from someone who understands what it means to be adopted.
• Dave Thomas Foundation
  This online publication is a step-by-step guide to post-adoption and includes information on how to find and use resources after bringing your child home.
• Parenting After Adoption
  This resource provides information about post-adoption services, adoption and developmental stages, adoption and school, helping children cope with grief and loss, therapy, lifebooks, postadoption depression, talking about adoption, and more.
• North American Council on Adoptable Children
  NACAC’s parent group database contains almost 900 adoption-related support groups from across the United States and Canada. You can search the database by state or province, or by the type of group or the group’s activity.
• Post-Permanency Services for Pennsylvanians
  Post-adoption services are provided to all adoptive families without charge through the Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). The services available are case advocacy, respite and support groups, and each lasts for six months.
• Selecting and Working With a Therapist Skilled in Adoption
  This fact sheet offers information on the different ypes of therapy and providers available to help,and it offers suggestions on how to find an appropriate therapist.
• The TCU Institute of Child Development
  This organization strives to help children suffering the effects of early trauma, abuse or neglect and provides many resources for parents, including videos, seminars, DVDs, and books.
• The Theraplay Institute
  This group is about “building better relationships” and offers training, therapy services, and information resources.

LWB’s Waiting Child videos include a focus on adopting children with the below special needs:

• Albinism
• Heart defect
• Spina bifida
• Thalassemia

as well as “Adopting a Boy.”