Adopting with Parkinson's?

People's condition can vary so much with Parkinson's that it is hard to say how it would affect anything just based on the diagnosis. How it would affect their ability to adopt would depend on many things. Where they are hoping to adopt an older child, they would probably not be doing a private domestic adoption, but either international or foster care. With international adoption, different countries have different requirements. In general, both agencies and the state want to know that parents will most likely have the physical and mental ability to parent a child. Children adopted at an older age may have a variety of special needs, and they also need to know that the potential adoptive parents can manage those particular needs. Your parents will want to think about both how your father's medical issues will affect their parenting and how parenting a child with special needs will affect his health. Kids adopted at an older age, whether from an orphanage or through foster care, have dealt with a lot of loss, and it's really important to be sure that one is able to meet their needs. That includes a question (which they will most likely be asked) of whether your father would be able to parent alone if something were to happen to your mother. I'm really not trying to be discouraging. However, I had a relative with Parkinson's, and while I know that the disease is not uniform, I know he would not have been able to parent alone, and would have really struggled with a kid with special needs, because of his medical issues. I would suggest they first, if they haven't decided what route they would pursue, do some research on adopting from foster care and international adoption (including country-specific requirements) to get a better picture of what each would look like and then decide what might work best for them, then contact agencies or the state to see whether they would qualify for the program they want to pursue.

Our agency director mentioned to us when we started orientation before we adopted DD that she had just placed a child with a couple whose wife had form of celebral palasy. She got around using a cane but had limited use of one hand. My advice is if they BOTH are truly passionate about it (it isn't an easy road) then keep trying. Even if one agency says no, doesn't mean another agency will.

allwhohope - Would you mind sending me a pm about which agency you use? I have a kidney disease and we are having an issue finding an agency that will work with us. Thanks!