Children in care are 9 times more likely to have special educational needs than those who live with their parents. A shocking statistic that may scare off some potential adoptive parents however this isn’t as scary as it may seem. All children deserve to be loved!
Special Educational Needs and Disabilities
The term special educational needs or SEN can cover many conditions including medical, physical or emotional disabilities such as:
- Behavioural problems
- Difficulty reading and writing such as dyslexia
- Trouble understanding and concentrating such as ADHD
- Physical needs or impairments
It is important to distinguish whether a child has a special educational need in a mental capacity or as a physical disability, as these are treated differently.
Are you eligible to adopt a child with special educational needs or disabilities? Well, there are no legal requirements on families or couples who apply to adopt a child. They must simply be prepared to provide the child with the lifestyle they deserve. The decision on parenting will be made with the adoption worker or agency early on in the process.
According to BAAF Adoption and Fostering disabled children are nine times more likely to become looked after than non-disabled children. Whereas those with learning disabilities are the children whom it is the most difficult to find permanent homes for.
Every adopter has an assessment after a child’s placement to see if any support is required and this is no different when adopting a disabled or special needs child. Adopters may be eligible for:
- Counselling
- Help with behavioural problems
- Funding in order to provide money for special care needs
- Meetings for adoptive children and adoptive parents to meet others in a similar situation
- Short breaks for adopters by giving adopted children a holiday with another carer
Adopting a special needs child or a child with special needs
Adopting a child that has special educational needs is different to adopting a child with special needs however both require a specific placement. These ‘special needs’ could encompass many things including:
- The child could be part of a sibling group.
- Age
- Racial background
- Ethnic background
- A risk of mental or emotional damage due to past history or trauma, neglect or abuse.
- A risk of illness later in childhood due to birth history.
Where possible, local authorities and adoption agencies will try to keep siblings together. Unfortunately, if children are part of a large family this may be hard to do as adopters rarely have multiple spaces available. This will also be required for twins or triplets.
Some of these children may once have been deemed ‘hard to place’ but this term is now seen to be a little distasteful. These specific requirements are not as common and therefore the likelihood of adoption is lower.
If you are thinking about adopting a child then think about how prepared or accepting you would be of such a child. Be realistic! Are you capable of caring for a child with a physical disability or special educational needs? Don’t get put off by a list of symptoms, meet the children in person. They’ll change your life!