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We have Adopted 13 with Special Needs, and we love being a Family Tons!!
What is the Special Need or Needs please?
Do you feel that your Family can take this on??
Have you had an International Adoption Pediatrician or Specialist review his file?
Most Special Needs that are major InCountry are Minor here in the United States!!
I would also ask with the current situation in Ukraine?
How is the Adoption process in terms of timing, and completion of process!!
I would also join the Adoption Agency Research Yahoo Group?
Juli
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Do remember that Ukraine considers all adoptions "independent", and limits the amount of help that agencies can offer. As an example, you don't get a referral before travel, so your agency can't help you review it, and you can't bring an agency representative to the meeting at which you look at books of available children and decide which ones you feel you'd be able to parent and would like to meet.
Be aware that the younger the child you want, the more serious the physical, mental, and emotional special needs you will have to accept. Ukrainian families tend to adopt the younger children and those with relatively mild special needs.
Also, be aware that many families have found that they have gone to Ukraine to look at the profiles of children, but were given only books of children with very severe disabilities, or much older children. The staff of the adoption center are very committed to find homes for the hardest to place children, and sometimes work a little too enthusiastically at it. While some families have been able to persuade the staff to give them books with children who have more moderate special needs, others have been told to go home and wait for another invitation to come and look at profile books.
Also, when you go to meet children you have identified from the profile books, if you feel that you will not be able to meet their needs, you will NOT be eligible to adopt other children from their orphanages whom you may have seen on that visit. You will either be taken back to look at more books, or told to go home and wait for another invitation. You will be allowed no more than three chances to look at profiles and select children to meet.
I do hope that you can find a child who will be a good fit for your family, but I think that you should go into Ukrainian adoption with a true openness to significant special needs of various kinds, and to the adoption of school aged children, especially boys.
Sharon
With Ukraine, you don't get a referral. You are invited to Ukraine to look at books of profiles and decide which children they will take you to visit. So while you can go with the idea of adopting a child with a certain need, you may not be shown any books with children having that need, and may have to consider others.
Also, with the younger children, the special needs are often significant, even by U.S. standards. Some children may also have multiple needs. You should not expect to find children with something that is easily corrected, or that won't affect normal functioning. You will be very lucky if you find a child whose needs turn out to be less significant than expected, once you get home, and you should be prepared that there may be some issues that are more significant than the doctors in Ukraine realized. In many countries, there are some conditions that are simply not recognized by the medical establishment there, such as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, reactive attachment disorder, etc.
People who are open to adopting a special needs child are very special -- but if they want their adoptions to work out, they need to be well prepared for all sorts of unforeseen situations, both very positive and very negative. They will need good health insurance, a great support system, and a terrific sense of humor, among other things.
Sharon