Parent Perspectives on Schooling Experiences of Internationally Adopted Youth with Disabilities

Intercountry adoption of children with complex health conditions and disabilities: A systematic review

“…The need for the specialist in ICA is greatest during the time before the child and family become established with their local care team (Miller et al, 2016). Emery et al (2020) included general education teachers, special education teachers, and school administrators in their interdisciplinary team since some children who are ICA are school‐aged and will begin school shortly after their arrival home. However, while the school nurse is not mentioned, children who are ICA with chronic health issues might need a school nurse on their care team as well.…”

“…Bergsund et al (2018) advocates for high‐quality pre‐adoption counseling or classes to help adoptive parents establish realistic expectations and learn to use resources within and outside the family. Knowledge of educational support for children with chronic health conditions or disabilities is extremely important for adoptive parents (Emery et al, 2020). Unlike biological parents that have at least 3 years to investigate and learn about educational resources, adoptive parents of school‐aged children must immediately navigate the educational system.…”

“…Bergsund et al (2018) discuss how challenges adoptive parents encounter are often exacerbated by a lack of social support since many adoptive parents feel isolated and lack a peer group. Although much of Western society views adoption as the happy ending to a long journey, adoption is merely the beginning of a complicated developmental trajectory (Emery et al, 2020). Having the opportunity to share experiences with other adoptive parents of children with chronic health conditions or disabilities was highlighted by Bergsund et al (2018) and Cochran et al (2014).…”

“…Although the interdisciplinary health care team format is not specifically defined, there is often the need for healthcare providers across disciplines when the child who is ICA has a complex health condition. Multiple articles in this review discuss the importance and benefits of interdisciplinary health care teams, and it is difficult to imagine the provision of healthcare without the participation of nurses (Cochran et al, 2014;Emery et al, 2020;Jones et al, 2019;Miller et al, 2016) Yet nurses are not mentioned as integral team members within the literature that was reviewed, except by Germain and Esquivel (2019) who are pediatric nurses. Jones et al (2019) recommends that when children who are ICA have complex health conditions, specialty care referrals are required, though the PCP directs the overall care of the child.…”

“…Even in areas where post-adoption resources exist, families often have difficulty locating and accessing these services (Bergsund et al, 2018). Emery et al (2020) found that parents most often rely on schools for resources, followed by medical professionals, mental health providers, and then community-based forms of support. Few post-adoptions courses exist even though participants in Bergsund et al (2018) study requested a post-adoption course.…”