Adoption Medicine

A Specialty You Need to Know

By Teri Brown

Though most of us don't know exactly what adoption medicine is, those who have adopted a child not only know what it is, they are grateful it exists.

What is adoption medicine? The most obvious definition of adoption medicine is that it involves the care of children who have been adopted. When Lisa Domagala of Downers Grove, Ill., adopted her child, it became clear how important adoption medicine is. "My husband and I adopted Calvin as a waiting child in Korea, meaning he had an identified health problem (a heart defect)," she says. "We received his medical files when he was approximately 4 1/2 months old and reviewed the files with both a pediatrician and a pediatric cardiologist."

The doctors wanted the Domagalas to request additional blood tests, which they did. "South Korea has an excellent orphan care system and a high standard of medical care, so we felt fairly confident that we had all of the medical information available," she says.

The Domagalas, like many other adoptive parents, relied on adoption medicine to make sure their adopted child was well taken care of and that they knew ahead of time whathis health issues would be.

Dr. Mark Simms, pediatrician and medical director of the Child Development Center at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin, says the field is unique. "Many of the children who are adopted both domestically and internationally have little (or unreliable) medical and family history information about their lives and experiences prior to the adoption," he says. "There may have been prenatal risk factors, birth complications or postnatal medical problems that could affect their current and future health and developmental status. Genetic and family history may be entirely unknown as well."

Dr. Simms says that in addition, many children who are adopted beyond infancy have experiences of neglect, deprivation or other significant life stresses that affect their health, behavior and development. "For children who lived in developing countries, there may have been exposure to tropical diseases or environmental toxins not commonly seen in the United States," he says. "A physician who is knowledgeable regarding adoption medicine can, hopefully, help the family and their regular health care providers to sort through the many potential issues to identify the source of problems that arise in the care of children who have been adopted."

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