June 12, 2008

There are many points in adoption where the practical and the ideological seem at odds. Today our task was to have the children’s medical information reviewed by a pediatrician. Ideologically, they were ours, and we were fairly certain we would take them no matter what the doctor reported. But, of course, there’s always the question of “what if…”

At the earliest stages of adoption, parents fill out an exhaustive checklist noting which medical conditions they will accept in the child they seek to bring home. Will you take a child with dental problems? Learning challenges? Missing limbs? A cleft palate? It’s a grueling task, ridiculous in a way, but crucial. It guarantees that, in theory, no child will be matched with a parent who hasn’t said he is prepared, on paper at least, to deal with the child’s medical conditions. And, in the vast majority of international adoption cases where children are coming from third world conditions, there are medical conditions, large and small.

In our case, the children seem remarkably healthy. They are small for their ages, probably indicative of poor nutrition. Godebo has small scars over his eyelids, which we learned is a typical way rural families in Ethiopia deal with an eye infection, making an incision in the eyelid to drain the fluid. Needless to say, it’s a stark reminder that these children have experienced a much different life until now. The biggest concern is their bloodwork, which shows both being anemic. Our pediatrician reassures us that this is probably caused by malnutrition, but it could also be indicative of sickle cell anemia, a serious blood condition not uncommon among Africans. Can we have them tested for sickle cell? No, we find out, the test is not available in Ethiopia. No matter, we tell our adoption specialist. We’ll take them.