Today we received the profile of a darling little girl with special needs available for domestic adoption that completely captured our hearts. Take a moment to read Marie-Grace's story and we are confident your heart will be captured as well.
Please share her story near and far. Advocate for this little girl! Let's bring Marie-Grace home ASAP!
Marie-Grace is of Caucasian and Bangladeshi descent. She was born in July 2014. Currently she is 17 months old and resides in a long term care facility. Due to her special needs and her parents’ inability to provide for her daily care, she has been in hospitals since birth.
Marie-Grace has many complex medical needs. She has multiple congenital anomalies, including Global Developmental Delay, Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) without esophagitis, hypotonia, bilateral Colobomas (which has resulted in severe vision loss in both eyes) and some facial dysmorphia. She has been receiving excellent medical care in the long term care facility and has undergone two surgeries. She also receives early intervention, including speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and nutritional assessment. Her caretakers and doctors have seen much improvement for Marie-Grace because of these therapies and have evaluated that she is ready to be in a caring and loving home environment.
Marie-Grace is a very engaging child. She likes to dance along to music. She also loves to be cuddled and be held. She can be a little shy when meeting a new person but becomes curious and engaging.
Marie-Grace’s birth parents have made an adoption plan because they love their daughter very much but are unable to care for her. They want her to have a family who can manage and provide for her very complex medical needs. Because Marie-Grace’s birth parents want her to find the right home, families from any state in the US will be considered. Experienced social workers have provided counseling to Marie-Grace’s birth parents to help them make an adoption plan along with free, unbiased counseling from Spence-Chapin's staff in order to help them make the decision that is right for them and for their child, whether it be adoption, foster care, kinship arrangements, or parenting.
There are no Professional Services fees for this special needs adoption. Families should anticipate fees for the home study, travel to New York, post-placement reports, and adoption finalization. The domestic home study fee can vary slightly depending on the state and organization, but is typically around $1,500. Other incurred fees include travel to Spence-Chapin’s Manhattan office for the placement of the child and complete six post-placement reports after returning home.
Marie-Grace’s birth parents are interested in having ongoing contact with the adoptive family, including email exchanges and periodic face-to-face visits. Spence-Chapin encourages open adoption, in which birth parents and adoptive families have ongoing contact with each other at their own discretion. Longitudinal research from the Donaldson Adoption Institute shows that open adoption is beneficial to all members of the adoption triad: the birth parents, the adoptive parents, and the adoptee.
Prospective adoptive families must research the medical issues, consult with their pediatrician regarding what is currently known about these medical issues, and reach out to their community to see what resources are currently available, such as early interventions, specialized schools, and other therapies. Although Marie-Grace is currently considered medically stable, she will face varied and unpredictable challenges in the future and therefore families must be prepared and have the support systems and resources needed for her. It would be of critical value for the adoptive family to have experience adopting and parenting children with acute disabilities. It goes without saying it takes a special kind of adoptive parent who embraces the unique challenges of parenting a child with special needs.
Take a moment and consider if you could give Marie-Grace the love, attention and the home she most desperately needs to flourish.
If you feel that your family could be the family for Marie-Grace, please email asap@spence-chapin.org or call 212-400-8150. Read more and view photos on their website: http://www.spence-chapin.org/waiting-children/.
In 1995, Spence-Chapin began their special needs adoption program to place medically fragile infants with adoptive parents around the country. This program serves children born in New York and New Jersey with identified medical needs and places the children with adoptive families who live throughout the United States. They prioritizes the placement of children with special needs.
