Special Needs and Adoption-Related Terms: Adoption terms and special needs words may vary from agency to agency.The terms used in this Special Needs Adoption-Related Glossary may be slightly different from one State to another.
A | B | C | D | E-F | G-H-I | J-K-L | M | N-O | P | Q-R | S | T-U-V-W-X-Y-Z
G
- Grief: A feeling of emotional deprivation or loss. Grief has distinct stages of emotions such as denial, anger, and acceptance. Adopted children go through the stages of grief just like anyone else.
- Group home: A home setting where several unrelated children live for varying time periods. Group homes may have one set of house parents or may have a rotating staff. Therapeutic or treatment group homes have specially trained staff to assist children with emotional and behavioral difficulties.
- Guardian: Person who fills the role and has the responsibility of the legal parent. Courts or biological parents may hold some jurisdiction of the child. Guardians do not have the same reciprocal rights of inheritance as birth or adoptive parents. Guardianship is subject to ongoing supervision by the court and ends by order of the court or when the child becomes an adult.
- Guardian ad litem (GAL): Often an attorney, or other person, appointed by the court to represent the interests of a child. The status of guardian ad litem exists only within the confines of the particular court case in which the appointment occurs.
H
- Homestudy: The process where prospective adoptive parents are educated about adoption and evaluated to determine their suitability to adopt.
I
- Identifying information: Information on birthparents which discloses their identities.
- Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA): A federal law (Public Law 95-608) regarding the placement of Native-American children which establishes the tribe’s sovereignty as a separate nation over the welfare of children who are tribal members of who are eligible for tribal membership.
- Individualized Education Plan (IEP): A plan created by a child’s special education teacher, other school staff and parents, that outlines specific skills the child needs to develop as well as learning activities and special accommodations to help build on a child’s strengths. Includes specific services the school will provide to help meet the educational needs of a child.
- Interethnic Placement provisions (IEP): Refers to Section 1808 of P.L. 104-188, To remove barriers to interethnic adoption, which affirms the prohibition contained in the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act of 1994 against delaying or denying the placement of a child for adoption or foster care on the basis of race, color or national origin of the foster or adoptive parents or of the child involved [42 USC 1996b].
- Institutionalization: Children who have been placed in hospitals, institutions, or orphanages. Placement in institutions during early developmental stages or for long periods of time may be associated with developmental delays due to environmental deprivation, poor staff-child ratios, or lack of early stimulation.
- Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance (ICAMA): An agreement between states for delivery of and payment for medical services and adoption assistance payments/subsidies for adopted children with special needs. This applies when children are adopted in a different state then where they were born or placed in foster care.
- Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC): State to State agreement regulating the placement of children across state lines. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have independently adopted the ICPC as statutory law in their respective jurisdictions.
For more information about parenting special needs children you might want to visit the Families.com Special Needs Blog and the Mental Health Blog. Or visit my personal website.
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