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When my little sister was born, she was diagnosed with rapid birth syndrome. She had a few small issues but was very resilient. Our parents were never told that her condition was from drug use during pregnancy, they were told by the social worker that the birth happened quickly due to the mother having several other kids previously. I realize why a person might lie in order to secure an adoption, but my parents most likely would have taken her anyway. I feel like there may have been things that could have been able to do to help her feel better in the first few weeks if only they had known.
It was confirmed by the birth mother several years later that the condition was caused by her cocaine use during pregnancy.
At the time of the adoption you couldn't just hop on the internet and Google the diagnosis, otherwise they could have figured it out on there own. Twenty years later, are there now safeguards in place to prevent this kind of thing from happening? Does anyone else have a similar story or advice for someone going through this?
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I think agencies as a whole have improved on the way they handle potential situations. It's much easier to explain drug exposure in-utero and the potential complications that accompany that exposure than it is to deal with the backlash of having deceived a potential adoptive couple and lost their business. Every child is a good match for someone. Agencies usually advertise situations with full disclosure. If you've ever been a part of some of the groups/mailings that go out for available situations, you'd see that they'd say things like:23 year old birthmother, pregnant with a female, father unknown (or father terminated), reports no drug/alcohol use, reports regular Dr. visits. Due in three weeks. Desires pictures and letters 3 times a year. There are also ones that read differently, stating "Birthmother reports smoking marijuana and doing meth through 8th month".So to answer your question -- I think it was probably more likely to happen back when networking was putting an ad in the paper and waiting for your attorney to call you for 3 years than it is now, where situations are often advertised and there is healthy competition between agencies, facilitators and attorneys. I was drug exposed and didn't know until about 10 years ago. It certainly explains several 'emotional responses' I tend to have, in general.
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