Search Results for: blog glossary of special needs adoption related terms c

A Mother’s Hope–My Little Girl Returns From Residential Treatment.

She was released from residential treatment a few days ago. It was a very long and short, nearly 90-days. All of the important family days of celebration happened while she was housed by outsiders with “education” along with other dramatic children–with desperate parents. We celebrated all four of our birthdays, daddy, little brother, mom, and finally her 9th-birthday, with pie or cake in the family, visit-room. It was pathetic. Grandma and Grandpa were her for mine. Actually, they were here for nearly 2-weeks and I was able to enjoy them. Our family almost didn’t survive the Christmas Holiday–it was just … Continue reading →

Babies in the News: Cocaine Laced Breastmilk

This is a sad, sad story. There are so many things that I can’t understand about this story but I’m getting ahead of myself. A woman was breastfeeding her 5 month old daughter. Apparently the mother was on drugs and her milk was tainted with cocaine. Her baby died from a cocaine overdose. The mother was originally charged with involuntary manslaughter, a felony which would have given her 9 months in jail. However, the prosecution reduced the charges when she agreed to a plea deal. She pled guilty to attempted man-slaughter, and in addition to the short stint in jail, … Continue reading →

Doctor to Doctor Review: Employer Provided Group Health Insurance

It’s been one thing after another since the placement of our special needs siblings for adoption in 2003. We added our children to our Employer Provided Group Health Insurance as soon as possible. In order to be sure all of their needs are met children adopted from foster care have Medicaid or State medical benefits until the age of 18 as part of the Adoption Assistance provided for special needs children. Our private employer group health insurance is seen as Primary with the Medicaid/State medical as secondary. Recently the federal government has passed laws requiring insurance companies treat mental health … Continue reading →

Primary and Secondary Health Insurance Coverage

Our family has had a difficult start to the year 2007! As some may know we are the Adoptive Parents of two special needs siblings placed through the state foster care system. Our daughter, Makala, was 5-years-old and her biological brother Jeremiah was 1-year-old at the time they were placed for adoption in our family during 2003. This has been an interesting and long four years. Our little girl has had several issues no one knew existed among them Alcohol-Related Neurodevelopmental Disorders, (ARND). Special Needs children adopted from the child services system often have continued benefits. Older, or special needs … Continue reading →

Adoption and Your Employer

Ed Paul’s recent Blog On Having a Calling made me smile. Our adoption stories are as much the same as they are different. We both raised biological children but found a good reason to become adoptive parents. He was able to retire and share his calling with his co-workers but, I had a very different experience. In my last position in a large Insurance Brokerage I knew I had been hired in part because, my biological children were old enough to drive me to work! It was very clear during the interviewing process that I was well liked, however there … Continue reading →

Makala, We Decided We Wanted to Adopt You and Your Brother.

Continued from: My Journey to Become Your Mother. Makala, When mommy and daddy were talking about getting married we were still young enough to have a family but, made a choice that we wanted to adopt our children. We decided that in our hearts we didn’t care if our kids were born to us or if they had another birth mother. We knew we would love our adopted kids just the same as we loved Sean and Tori. We took our time deciding how we would find the children we would adopt in our family. We could pick anyway we … Continue reading →

Stockholm Syndrome and Attachment Disorders: My Thoughts

It might seem odd that I find a connection between Stockholm Syndrome and Attachment Disorder but, for some strange reason I do. In our walk as adoptive parents I have found many who doubt the true depth of an attachment disorder, and tell us they simply don’t understand what the problem might be with a child who can’t accept and love parents after living a difficult life. Yet, these same doubters are willing and able to accept the fact that a well adjusted person could be kidnapped and abused into bonding with their captors? Stockholm Syndrome is a term used … Continue reading →

My Journey Continued When I Married an Adopted Boy

Continued from, When Uncle Eddie Took Care of His Birth Mother. Makala, it seems like my whole life has been all about becoming your mommy–and Jeremiah’s mommy too. I have learned so many things along the way that have made me a strong mother, who is willing to learn what I need to help you grow up and become the mommy you hope to be. With Uncle Eddie, and all the children I knew in my life I learned a lot about being adopted. Not that anyone who wasn’t adopted could ever understand everything. When I was just 18-years old … Continue reading →

How I Became Your Mother: When Uncle Eddie Took Care of His Birth Mother.

Continued: From The Journey of How I Became Your Mother: Thanksgiving and LeRoy’s Boys. When I was 13-years-old Uncle Eddie announced that his birth mother was sick and needed someone to take care of her. The mother he had not lived with since he was only 4-years-old, had found her son and asked for a place to stay. The picture here was taken the day she flew in from Illinois. This is my grandmother, Aunt Terrie, Uncle Eddies birth mother with the white hair, and my parents–Uncle Eddie took this picture. Not very many years ago most adopted kids never … Continue reading →

How I Became Your Mother: Thanksgiving and LeRoy’s Boys

Continued from: The Journey of How I Became Your Mother: The Story of Joe and Eddie. When I was growing up we always seemed to have Extra children in our family–especially during the Holidays. As a young Minister Uncle Eddie was called to be involved in the local boys home. The 1970’s version of an orphanage. Our Thanksgivings had so many children it was almost like a fair! And, because I grew up in California our Thanksgivings were warm and dry. We would have three-legged-races, and potato bag jumping, football and ice cream. My parents house and yard were bigger, … Continue reading →