Special Needs Adoption: Trisomy 21 and HIV

For those researching about adoption as well as those who haven't yet selected their adoption path - I would like to share with you some information about adopting a child with special needs. In the adoption world, special needs can include any cosmetic or orthepedic or physical impairments (ex: missing digit, missing ear, cleft palate) to mental and learning disabilities (ex: emotional disability, specific learning disability, mild cognitive disability) to having a diagnosis of a known disease such as HIV or AIDS.

The term "special needs adoption" can be very wide.

Now before you click off this post, and tell yourself, "That's just not for us." I wanted to let you know about an organization that works to assist families who are interested in special needs adoptions, specifically, for children with Down's Syndrome and HIV as well as AIDS. The organization is called Project Hopeful.

HIV and AIDS treatment has come a long way since the early 1990s and the time of Ryan White. Adopting a child with special needs is something that you may have either considered or may be something you aren't comfortable with at all. To learn more about adopting children with special needs such as HIV and AIDS as well as other needs - please check out Project Hopeful's resources on their page. You may find that a special needs adoption is not as scary as it sounds. Project Hopeful also has a link to special needs children already identified and eligible for adoptoin who are currently waiting for families.

Please take a second to watch the Tweetmeyer Family's video below about the truth about HIV and AIDS that they made with their family through Project Hopeful and see their wonderful familily created through adoption.