New Help for Parents Adopting Children from Overseas

Contact:
Janice Guhl, 216-844-1524

New Help for Parents Adopting Children from Overseas
Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital Launches Program for International Adoptions

CLEVELAND: To meet the special needs of both adoptive parents and their children, Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital has developed a new and unique program Children who are adopted from overseas sometimes carry rare diseases, or have psychological or behavioral problems associated with neglect or deprivation common to institutionalization. In the new Rainbow Center for International ChildHealth (RCIC), we bring together the expertise of developmental and behavioral pediatricians under the direction of Dr. Karen Olness, who has decades of experience working with children from developing nations.

For new parents, the expertise of physicians familiar with international health provides tremendous reassurance. After Ruth and Kenneth Mohler of North Ridgeville, Ohio, brought daughter Katelyn home from Russia last May, they turned to Rainbow for support. "We were stressed out. We couldn't eat. We both lost a lot of weight. We had this baby who cried all the time. We were totally unprepared," says Ruth Mohler. "The Rainbow staff provided us with a whole new comfort level--reassurance that we had a healthy, normal baby, so we could relax and enjoy being new parents."

The opening of the Rainbow Center comes at a time when publicity about international adoption has raised some disturbing questions related to the health of babies and children coming to America from overseas. In the September 17, 1997, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, researchers from Tufts-New England Medicine Center and the University of Minnesota Hospitals suggest that "most children (coming from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union) have significant postinstitutional growth and developmental delays...Children coming from these environments should be considered--at least temporarily--'special needs' children."

Dr. Olness agrees that these children and their families need special attention to make the adoption process a success. But she says that many parents are unnecessarily alarmed by negative publicity--and that good, solid information and a support system can have a very calming effect. "We work with the family to help the child develop the sleep, eating, and social habits vital to a successful home and family life," says Dr. Olness, who is, herself, a parent of two adopted children. "There is enough stress associated with the adoption process itself. We can help make the transition to life in America easier for the child and the family."

The RCIC offers services for pre- and post-adoptive health needs. Before new parents bring home a child, they meet with experts who can help them anticipate potential problems, based on the experience of other internationally adopted children. The RCIC team can view any videotape the prospective parents have of the baby; sometimes subtle physical problems can be observed by a trained physician and parents can be prepared to provide appropriate treatmemt.

A post-adoption assessment is performed within 72 hours of the child's arrival in the United States, to screen for infectious diseases and developmental problems. The staff continues to follow the child during the process of adjusting to life in this country.

The RCIC staff includes pediatricians specializing in development and behavior, nutrition, infectious disease and international child health, as well as a pediatric occupational therapist.

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University Hospitals Health System is the region's premier health care delivery system, serving patients at more than 90 locations in 40 Northern Ohio communities. Included is a network of physicians, outpatient centers and hospitals; wellness programs, occupational health, skilled nursing, elder health, rehabilitation services and home care; and managed care and insurance.

The System includes: the region's largest network of primary care physicians; the region's largest number of ambulatory care centers; Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, one of the world's renown children's hospitals; Northern Ohio's only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center; Ohio's only hospital for women; and the region's leading provider of mental and behavioral health services.

University Hospitals Health System's tertiary medical center, University Hospitals of Cleveland, is the primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University. Together, they form the largest center for biomedical research in the State of Ohio.