Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services to Persons Born in other Countries May 6 - 8, 2002

Not citizens by choice: Serving people with disabilities who were international special needs adoptees as infants

Stensrud, R.
Counseling, Leadership, and Adult Development
Drake University
Des Moines, Iowa USA
robert. stensrud@drake. edu

Abstract

This presentation will cover my experiences as a father of two infants with special needs, whom we adopted from Korea. Several issues are unique to this group of immigrants. Primary among these is the lack of information on the birth parents. This lack of knowledge affects much of the medical care decision making the adoptees face. The other major issue involves the identity they develop as infants in multi-racial families, and how that affects their attachments as they age. Finally, this affects rehabili tation service providers who seek to be culturally sensitive. The adopted individuals take the cultural identity of their adoptive parents, primarily, until they become adults, at which time their reaction that identity varies tremendously. The perspectiv es introduced into the presentation will include those of my children, my own as an adoptive parent, and as a rehabilitation professional.

Return to Presentations Index