Summary

With adequate information about the range of disabilities common among children, adoptive and foster parents can provide meaningful interventions, appropriate accommodations and emotional support to more positively help children. Each youth manifests a disability in ways that are unique to that individual, so there are no definitive one size fits all responses as to "What can we do?"

Many children with ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) may also have additional coexisting disabilities, compounding the challenges experienced by foster and adoptive parents. Combined with the impact of other risk factors in a foster or adoptive child's life, it is often difficult to identify, diagnose, treat disabilities and respond to them effectively and consistently. Parents need to build a team of professionals upon whom they can depend for professional advice, and a group of friends they can turn to for emotional support.

Long term studies of resiliency - finding out how some people have withstood incredible adversity and uncertainty in their lives, and still came to a positive outcome as an adult, repeatedly show the importance of just one adult in their youth, who believed in, advocated for, and stood by the child in their youth. Foster and adoptive parents have an incredible opportunity to be that all important person in a child's life.

It is my sincere hope that this information and our future discussions will help foster and adoptive parents and case managers to be more encouraged and enabled to more effectively act to help their children learn how to handle the challenges life with ADHD will certainly bring.