Referral Medical review

Our agency strongly recommended using a medical practice with an expertise in international adoption, and particularly with an understanding of the referrals from various countries. We live in NYC, so we went with Aronson's office because she's local, but there are many others around the country. EDITED TO REMOVE DISCUSSION OF FEE BASED ADOPTION SERVICE I don't think a regular family doctor would know what to look for in quite the same way. Usually the referral itself just has medical info on the baby. We had a couple of sentences on the birthmom, but just self-reported info about her behavior during pregnancy. Good luck!

We did not waste the money on it. You get so little information anyway, I just don't know what they're going to review. We made sure his weight, height, and head circum. looked to be on target and that his HIV, hep, etc... tests were negative, and other than that, like I said, I don't know what a doctor could tell you. Just my opinion though. I know it is comforting to some to have a doctor look at it. I can say with complete honesty though, if there had been a medical issue, it wouldn't have mattered.

I would highly recommend this for many reasons: 1. The cost isn't all that exhorbitant. It's a few hundred dollars here in Cincinnati to have a special unit at Children's Hospital review the referral info. They involve any other departments in the hospital as necessary in reviewing the referral's info. 2. There is actually a LOT they can tell from a picture and/or a video re: developmental or medical issues or delays. I actually have a friend here who received assessments from Children's on two separate referrals that indicated problematic medical and/or developmental issues. It was not immediately apparent from the pictures or the limited info that was provided, but the doctor could tell as she is skilled in this. 3. In our case, the doctor charted each and every medical update we were given that we also sent along to her, and placed it in our child's chart. Everything was always fine, but I'm sure if it wasn't she would have raised the issue. Tina

I agree that it is not worth it as you get very little information. I would just have your pediatrician look at the information.

I think it depends on the situation of the biomom and birth itself. With our daughter, we had information reviewed by Dr. Nalven b/c the bio mom had an illness during pregnancy and we wanted to consult with someone re: things to watch out for in the baby. With our son-to-be, we did not have the info reviewed b/c it was very basic info and nothing out of the ordinary with the bio mom or birth. Good luck in your decision!

We sent our daughters Medical records to a very Respected Physician that specializes in Adoption Medicine. We also had one phone consultation with him. He said "Don't adopt this child" she has brain damage and severe Cerebral Palsy..... They also charged us a steep fee that they called a Donation to their research center. I THANK GOD we didn't listen!!! She is AWESOME!!! I can't imagine my life without her!! No Brain Damage to speak of and CP.... so mild that she has no outward signs! If you are told there maybe something wrong with this child you have to be willing to accept it, or decide that you will only take a referral of healthy child. I don't think there is ANY way to asses the health of a child from a few brief notes translated from Spanish to English, a few photos or a video.....Our Daughter is proof positive that this just doesn't work.... We are not the only family that has gone through this, we have heard the same story from many others... If your agency is telling you that the child has been examined by an embassy Dr. and appears healthy they most likely are.... You really need to be able to trust your agency!!! Good Luck and Best Wishes... Ann

We didn't have our referral info eval'd for our baby, mostly because I have done hundreds of newborn exams and was comfortable looking at the video myself. If you don't have much background with newborns/young infants it is probably worth having a pediatrician look at them. Whether or not the previous poster was taken to the cleaners, there are certainly things that someone who "does babies" for a living will be able to pick up on. Someone could get hosed by the car repair place, that doesn't mean that ALL car repairs don't work or shouldn't be done!! Things I looked at in the pictures and video: tone, responsiveness, evidence for term vs preterm gestation and normal newborn type behavior. An IA specialist may be ideal but probably not necessary unless your pedi has concerns. Just my humble opinion...

I could not get any medical information on the birth mother. I saw no point in bringing the medical to a specialilst. All most people receive are the results of blood tests that detremine if the baby has HIV and Hepatitis. Then you receive a statement that the baby appears to be healthy. Then you receive the stats on height / weight / and head circumference. These stats can be compared to Guat growth charts. Just how I did things...

Greetings - I just sent you a PM with the info for our IA Pediatrician. Best wishes for a smooth journey :)

I have to come down pretty strongly in favor of consulting with an IA doctor. True, you don't get a lot of information at the very beginning, but most IA doctors will work with you throughout the adoption, all for the one time fee. As a result, every time you get new measurements, photos, updates, you can run it by them and see if they see any cause for concern. Also, they can evaluate video from your visit trip and let you know if they see anything of concern, or anything that you should be preparing for when you get home. The one we worked with was very helpful and comforting when we had an important question on our visit trip. He'd given us a pager number and came to the phone immediately when we were panicking about something. Because he has a lot of experience with IA children, and particularly children from Guatemala, he was able to give us perspective and that gave us a lot of comfort when we really needed it. Because he was so responsive to us and dropped everything to consult with us right away, it really saved the rest of our trip and freed us from worrying the whole time. Yes, it is important to trust your agency and your child's doctor in Guatemala; however, they both have a stake in completing an adoption. A friend of mine has just had a tragic experience and has realized that her son has some severe neurilogical/developmental issues that the doctor, foster mother, and agency have not reported to her. She knows only because she went to visit and saw for herself. Having an objective person to show some videotape to can make all the difference. Just my two cents. I'll get off my soapbox now! Anne

Wow, thanks for all the responses....you all have given us a lot to think about! I truly appreciate your time!

I didn't bother having a doctor review the little info I received when I got my referral. He was two days old at the time and all I got were weight, length, HC, an HIV test result and two photos. I could evaluate those myself based on easily available charts. I did send everthing to an AI specialist about four months later when I had several months of medicals to review. Even then the physician warned me that she was basing her evaluations on the records and photos from another doctor (down in Guatemala) about whose competency and honesty she knew nothing.