Family Wins Malpractice Lawsuit

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Jen Thorpe

A family in California filed a malpractice lawsuit against their OBGYN doctor and the hospital that their child was born in. The baby suffered brain damage during birth that led to the development of cerebral palsy. A jury decided in favor of the family. Andrew and Jennifer Blunt, who live in California, were expecting a child. When it was time for the baby to be born, Jennifer was in Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. The physician who helped Jennifer to give birth was Dr. Kurt Haupt. Unfortunately, things went wrong while the baby was being born. According to lawyer Nicholas … Continue reading →

How Early Intervention Helped our Family

Posted on October 2, 2006 by Melissa J

Soon after our first son was placed in our home, I noticed some strange behaviors. He would become easily frustrated with his toys screaming or throwing them when they didn’t work how he wanted them to. He was 16 months when I sought early intervention (EI) services for him. At that time, the special education teacher didn’t feel he needed regular visits but agreed to keep a file open on him should other behaviors arise. When he was three, his tantrums and sensory functions didn’t seem normal. He was entered into the Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) program for 3-5 … Continue reading →

Early Intervention: Give Your Child a Head Start!

Posted on May 23, 2006 by Kristyn Crow

What is early intervention and why is it so important? I like to use analogies, so imagine that you are about to enter a bicycle race. At the starting line, you discover that your bike has a few problems. Some of the gears aren’t functioning properly, and one of your wheels isn’t correctly aligned. You can’t get a new bike, so you are given permission to start the race early. Along the way, you’ll be able to stop at various checkpoints where mechanics will assess how your bike is holding up. This is the principle of early intervention for children … Continue reading →

Toddler and the Dentist

Posted on June 6, 2010 by Crissy Brown

I don’t remember the exact date I went to the dentist for the first time. However, my first dentist memory is forever branded in my mind because I needed two fillings. I freaked out. I remember crying and protesting. The dentist grabbed my face and told me to calm down, so he wouldn’t injure me with the Novocain needle. I’m pretty sure I was in elementary school already when this happened. Texas Health Steps, which oversees how often children in state custody are seen by medical professionals, sets the first dental visit at six months old. I took the last … Continue reading →

Is it Okay to be Choosy? Part Two

Posted on December 7, 2007 by Pam Connell

My last blog introduced the topic of balancing wanting to adopt a child who really needs you with wanting to adopt a healthy child or a child who can do things you’ve always dreamed of doing with him or her. Adoption should be a mutually beneficial arrangement. In some cases, material assistance to the birthmother or an international child sponsorship agreement may be a better option. In other cases, a stable home life will not be possible with the birth family even with assistance. Adoption should mutually benefit the adoptive parents and child by allowing the parents to have joy … Continue reading →

Talking with Children About Special Needs

Posted on August 7, 2007 by Pam Connell

Many children who are adopted have some special needs. Children adopted from the foster care system may show emotional and behavioral needs related to neglect or frequent separations (although most of these kids do very well, contrary to the media focus on problems). Children from overseas may have a birth defect which is correctable by relatively routine surgery common in this country but not in theirs, for example a cleft palate or club foot. In some cultures facial differences can make life harder and these children may be more likely to be placed for adoption. Parents may consider a child … Continue reading →

Two Months of Hell

Posted on June 28, 2007 by Pam Connell

Obviously my stress levels were through the roof at this point. We waited and waited for new photographs of our daughter’s biological sister, hoping they would shed light on the prognosis of damage from prenatal alcohol exposure. My reading about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder stressed that children with this disorder needed highly structured lives and predictable routines. I had to admit that we are just not that kind of family. We do a lot of really interesting things together, but organization and routine are not our strong points, to put it mildly. Still, I had been … Continue reading →

Turning Down a Referral

Posted on April 3, 2007 by Pam Connell

I’d somehow always thought I’d adopt a child with a physical special need. My husband and I were open to correctable medical conditions. On the photolistings most agencies maintain, we saw the profile of a little girl with congenital cataracts and a cleft palate. I’d seen her pictures before, then she disappeared from the case studies for a while and I assumed she’d been adopted. When she reappeared after our homestudy was complete, it seemed like a sign. The cleft palate was treatable. She would likely see with coke-bottle thick glasses until she was a teenager when she would have … Continue reading →

Class Size

Posted on March 13, 2007 by Lyn Newton

Each day last week I had at least two students absent from my class. Some days I had as many as four students not there. A stomach virus and flu is going around throughout my community. The primary classes in my school are overloaded with students. Each kindergarten has at least 20 students. Our first grade classes have 23 children. Next year, the first grade classes may have even more students due to a large kindergarten class moving up into first grade. The teachers have been told that they can have up to 25 students before a new class will … Continue reading →