Evaluating Risk Factors in Domestic Adoption

Are you thinking about domestic infant adoption? This is an interview you must listen to! We talk with adoption medicine pediatrician, Dr. Todd Ochs, about common risk factors you should know about before adopting an infant.

In this episode, we cover:

• Common Risk Factors in Domestic Infant Adoption
  • Lack of prenatal care.
    • Why do expectant moms who are considering making an adoption plan often have limited prenatal care?
    • What is covered in prenatal care and how might a lack of prenatal care impact a baby?
  • Prematurity
    • What causes a premature birth?
    • Poor prenatal care?
    • Are expectant moms who are considering making an adoption plan more likely to have a premature birth?
    • What are the risks with a premature birth based on the degree of prematurity?
  • Prenatal exposure
    • Alcohol
      • What are some red flags that a mom might have abused alcohol during her pregnancy?
      • Does the degree of impact differ depending on when alcohol was consumed in the pregnancy?
      • What are the long- and short-term impacts of alcohol consumption on a child exposed prenatally?
      • Very often, you will not have a diagnosis of FASD and won’t be detected in the hospital post-natally.
      • Resources to help parents of a child exposed to alcohol. Creating a Family has a facilitated interactive training for foster, adoptive, and kinship parents to help recognize kids who may have been prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs, and best practices for helping this child thrive, on-demand courses, and additional resources on the long- and short-term impacts of prenatal substance exposure – visit the Raising a Child with Prenatal Exposure for find more information. 
    • Opioids 
      • List of opioid drugs in increasing degree of strength
        • Codeine.
        • Hydrocodone (Vicodin, Hycodan)
        • Morphine (MS Contin, Kadian)
        • Oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percoset)
        • Hydromorphone (Dilaudid)
        • Heroin
        • Methadone, Suboxone
        • Fentanyl (Duragesic)
      • Does the degree of impact differ depending on when in the pregnancy the opioid was used?
      • Does the degree of long-term impact differ depending on whether the baby was born dependent or with a diagnosis of Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome?
      • What are the long- and short-term impacts of opioid exposure on a child exposed prenatally?
      • Does the impact differ depending on what drug was involved or whether it was a legal or illegal drug?
  • Methamphetamine 
  • Cocaine
  • Marijuana
  • Hallucinogens, including Ecstasy
• Mental Health Issues
  • What is the genetic connection for the following mental health disorders? How heritable are these mental illnesses?
    • Anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and phobias.
    • Depression, bipolar disorder, and other mood disorders.
    • Personality disorders (antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive)
    • Psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia
    • ADHD
  • Autistic Spectrum Disorders
• Legal Risk Factors
  • Most often in domestic infant adoption, the primary legal risk factor is an unknown or unidentified birth father
  • Controlled by state law
  • Work with your agency or attorney to understand the risk and what must be done to reduce your risk.

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