Every year, National Adoption Day increases awareness of the more than 100,000 children in foster care awaiting forever homes. Among the many myths surrounding adoption, one of the most prominent is that children labeled as having “special needs” always have a physical or mental handicap.
In truth, this label may simply mean that a child is a minority or is older than other children in foster care. It may also mean that a child needs to be placed in a home with his or her siblings.
Adoptive parents should know that some children do have emotional problems, but this is often the result of having birth parents who were not nurturing caretakers. These children are not in the foster care system because there is something wrong with them. They simply need a loving family to provide a stable, permanent home.