[blindkid] Adopting children with visual impairments

Sun Jun 1 19:13:17 UTC 2014

My husband and I are currently in the process to adopt a little girl from
India. She will be 3 years old in July and she has Congenital Glaucoma. We
have been told to expect light perception at best, but not to count on it.
>From everything we have been told, she is a spunky, happy, determined
little girl. We are hoping to travel to India to bring her home in January
or earlier. We have been in the process for almost 18months at this point.

I currently work as a Rehabilitation Instructor for the Blind at a personal
adjustment training center locally. So we have some preparation and I
understand blindness from a professional perspective, though not through
the eyes of a parent, yet. Advice is most welcome!

 This process can be very overwhelming and our families don't always
understand our desire to choose a child who is blind, but we have never
doubted our decision from the day we saw her face. I understand the fears
of families who choose not to adopt a child with VI. I share some of them.
I also look forward to the many things I'm sure our daughter will teach us.

I have been wanting to write to this group for sometime and ask if there
are any other adoptive parents out there who would be willing to share
encouragement/advice about the first few weeks/days and the attachment
process.

Thank you,
Dani Baisden

more info about our adoption process: www.bringingcorahome.blogspot.com

On Sun, Jun 1, 2014 at 1:47 PM, dan sturgill via blindkid <
blindkid at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> We have a neighbor very close, Mexico, we adopted our beautiful daughter
> from there in 2000, with lil knowledge of Spanish and absolutely
> no training for the blind (O&M). She was 7 years old. What an opertunity to
> give into a wonderful childs life. She will graduate high School this June
> 2014, she has been in a mainstream school since day one. Oh how I pray that
> anyone wanting a beautiful child will consider adoption especialy those
> that have severe visual impairments, as Mexico can offer very lil to poor
> and blind.
>
>
>
> On Sunday, June 1, 2014 1:19 PM, Sandy Bishop via blindkid <
> blindkid at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>
>
> As Robert mentioned already, Bethel China www.bethelchina.org is a
> nonprofit in China working exclusively with VI children from orphanages
> across China. They also partner with some orphanages, giving staff training
> in better care for VI children in the orphanages. Perhaps their most
> important work going forward is providing training to PARENTS who have VI
> children, teaching them how to care for their children, giving them hope
> for the future and building support networks among parents that we take for
> granted. This reduces the number of families who feel they have no option
> other than to abandon their child. I would hope that there are similar
> organizations in other countries, but I am only familiar with the situation
> in China.
>
> Financial support is always welcome and of course, adopting one of these
> children yourself. But, if adoption isn't for your family, reach out to
> support families who are adopting (some feel called, but struggle with the
> costs), and spread the word about the need for families to adopt VI
> children. I am looking for places to spread the word about this. If you
> have contacts in your area who would be open to hearing more about the
> need, please contact me. I would love to see some of the national and/or
> state organizations, like NFB and POBC get behind this, letting the public
> know that there are VI children looking for families and offering
> information to help those families move forward.
>
> I did an informal survey on a couple of Facebook groups of families
> considering or in process to adopt from China. I asked what kept them from
> selecting visual impairment as a special need they would be open to
> considering. (Nearly all adoptions from China now are children with some
> type of special need.) The answers were a bit surprising to me, but show
> that there is more that needs to be done in educating the American public
> about living with visual impairments. Some parents (being sighted
> individuals) admitted that blindness is just plain scary. You might find
> this abbreviated list interesting:
>
> Concerns
>
>    - don't know anyone who is blind
>    - feel clueless how to raise a blind child; don't know how to help them
>    navigate the world; won't be able to help in the ways s/he needs
>    - don't know braille
>    - the child would feel left out of parent/families favorite
>    sight-oriented activities, like photography, movies, etc.
>    - afraid house would be too dangerous and they would get hurt (too much
>    clutter, stairs, etc.)
>    - blind adults can't be independent (can't get job, on welfare, i.e..
>    has no "real future"); don't want a child who might be a burden on other
>    siblings after parents are gone
>    - driving: don't want to have to drive them around forever; live in
>    rural area where driving is necessary; lack of independence because
> can't
>    drive
>    - accessibility to services in school, local school for the blind too
>    far away
>    - extended family reactions, "why would you do that to yourselves?"
>    - traffic in front of the house
>
> The book "Exposed to Hope" was written to show families that adopting a
> child with a visual impairment doesn't have to be scary. As parents with VI
> children you are showing the world around you the same thing. Share with
> people you meet about the need and offer to be a resource to people who are
> open to considering adopting a VI orphan. 
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Message:2
> >
>
>
> > 
> > Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 16:19:54 -0400
> > From: Carolyn Cain via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> > To: blindkid at nfbnet.org
> > Subject: [blindkid] Adopting children with visual impairments
> >
> >
> > There seems to be an abundance of children in some countries who, due to
> > being visually impaired are neglected or unwanted. Is there a place in
> the
> > United States that can support this population of children who seem to be
> > unwanted in other countries? I guess some countries don't have the
> > resources we have to support them properly with basic life sustaining
> > provisions. So sad.
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 18:48:17 -0500
> > From: Charles Buggs via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> > To: Carolyn Cain <carolynacain at gmail.com>, "Blind Kid Mailing List,
> >         (for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> > Subject: Re: [blindkid] Adopting children with visual impairments
> > Message-ID: <894AE277-1B54-4C2A-AEBC-AEF84BAE2321 at tds.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii
> >
> > Hi Carolyn,
> >
> > My wife and I are both partially blind and adopted our oldest son from
> > India in 2009.  He has the same eye condition as my wife and also had
> > another undiagnosed minor eye condition that was corrected with surgery
> > several months after we brought him home.
> >
> > Unfortunately, organizations like UNICEF have successfully worked to
> close
> > adoption programs in many countries, resulting in many children being
> left
> > in orphanages.  The number of international adoptions has fallen 50% from
> > the peak in 2004-2006.
> >
> > There are still many children available for inter-country adoption, and
> > adoption may be the best option for a bright future for many children.
> >  However, many more children will never be adopted and for those kids
> > support in the form of donations may be most appropriate.
> >
> > Sent from my iPad
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Sat, 31 May 2014 22:42:47 -0700
> > From: Robert Jaquiss via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
> > To: "'Carolyn Cain'" <carolynacain at gmail.com>, "'Blind Kid Mailing
> >         List,   \(for parents of blind children\)'" <blindkid at nfbnet.org
> >
> > Subject: Re: [blindkid] Adopting children with visual impairments
> > Message-ID: <001001cf7d5c$51e55140$f5aff3c0$@earthlink.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > Hello Carolyn:
> >
> >      A great way to help a blind child overseas is to adopt him or her.
> > Bethel China www.bethelchina.org is working hard to give proper care and
> > training for blind children in China. If you have the needed skills,
> Bethel
> > China is looking for a couple of English teachers.
> >
> >      My wife Laurie and I are sponsoring a blind child through Compassion
> > International www.compassioninternational.org.
> > Others on this list will know of other organizations. Hope this helps.
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> > Robert
> >
> >
> >
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/sturgilldan%40yahoo.com
> _______________________________________________
> blindkid mailing list
> blindkid at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blindkid_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> blindkid:
>
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blindkid_nfbnet.org/dani.baisden%40gmail.com
>