Currently, there are approximately one half of one million children in the United States foster care system. Of those, one hundred thousand children are available and considered waiting to be adopted, some of whom are considered to have special needs. Bipolar disorder, distinguished by abnormally intense high and low mood swings, is one special needs condition that can make the adoption process difficult for a foster child and worrisome, if not frightening, for potential adoptive parents.
Disorder
Sometimes referred to as manic-depression, bipolar disorder is a mental illness marked by extreme highs known as mania and severe lows of depression. Early onset of the illness in children is often more problematic than that of teens and adults who develop the condition in the way of more frequent and prolonged episodes of both mania and depression, coupled with less control of symptoms due to the lack of self-control often found during childhood. As a result, children with a known family history of the illness or a diagnosis of their own often have a longer wait until adoption, and many age out of the system still waiting.
Hereditary
A primary concern for potential adoptive parents is inherited disease from the biological parents. In many cases, it is known in the medical history that a biological parent or someone in the family had Bipolar disorder, which can cause reconsideration of a child for adoption, given that over half of diagnosed cases of the illness have a hereditary basis. Still the likelihood of the child of a bipolar parent developing the condition themselves is about one in four, and therefore, statistically not prohibitive. Also, given the range of the illness, which can be very mild, even an actual diagnosis for the child, rather than simply a parent, need not interfere with the ability to successfully adopt into a new family.
International
When adopting a child from another country, it is typically the case that little to no family medical history information is available. Since diagnosis of children is rare in general, and the conditions of many foreign adoptive settings are often not conducive to the type of rigorous monitoring needed to note the disorder, it can be impossible to know if Bipolar disorder is a factor in the child's behavior or personality at all. In such cases, children are often subject to circumstances that can cause more severe forms of the disorder, with increased behavioral disturbances and side effects of increased inability to properly attach and emotionally relate to the new adoptive parents.
Treatment
Early onset is often discovered in children with anxiety disorders and with abnormal brain function and structure, as well as those with a genetic predisposition. There are many medications available for use to treat the various symptoms of bipolar disorder such as insomnia, risky behavior, ill temper, poor appetite, low energy, difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts, psychosomatic pain and suicidal thoughts. Though it may take time to find the right dosage or combination of drugs that works for a given child, drug therapy has been shown to be very successful, especially when combined with psychotherapy. Therapists who specialize in child counseling and/or creative therapeutic forms have been known to greatly assist children and their families in understanding, managing and overcoming symptoms of the disorder.
Support
A merit of the adoption process, particularly agency adoption, is that there are many networks of resources for newly formed families, particularly those that involve special needs children. There are support groups for parents of children with the disorder, as well as online resources, books and social workers that can specifically monitor the integration of children with bipolar disorder into the family environment--a local resource that can often be facilitated by the adoption agency. Finally, there are adoption assistance payments available to families who adopt special needs children from the US foster care system, a subsidy which can be used to help meet child mental health needs.
