Adoption

There are about 150,000 adoption each year in the United States.More than half the children adopted  from foster care are adopted by the foster parents that have been looking after them.Domestic newborn adoptions have potential maternal and infant problems.The mother may have a history of mental illness or of sexually transmitted or other infectious diseases.The infant may have prematurity, a congenital anomaly, a genetic, disorder, or have been exposed to drugs or toxins.In many cases, the medical and other previous historybefore coming to the foster family is not available.Many foster children  have chronic medical conditions that have been inadequately diagnosed or treated.

                International adoption imply that the child was born in a foreign country.Although it is intuitive that there should be testing for hepatitis B, syphilis, TB, and so on, it is not recommended to insist on this before the child comes to the United States.Use of contaminated needles places the child at risk and the result may be unreliable or even fabricated.A videotape of the child may provide information about the development of the child.Many children have undiagnosed chronic illness and developmental delay is common.