My husband (Tim) and I (Ellen) are from Massachusetts.  We have adopted 7 special needs children.  We have 2 adult bio boys.

Our son adopted from the USA is now almost 17.  I adopted him as a single parent and met my husband when he was 4. He has FAS.

Since then, we have adopted SiWon (from a family who disrupted him after 4 years) from Korea.  He is 11 today and has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, quite involved.  He is in the 5th grade and bordering on genius!

Oki is 10 and adopted from Korea also.  She was born with a rare facial cleft and no right eye.  She has a prosthetic and is a very sweet girl. She is in 4th grade.

Jake (age 6) was our first adoption from the Philippines and our most special guy, albeit our greatest joy/gift.  He was born wit a cleft lip/palate, seizures, micro, pituitary insufficiency, CP etc.  He is also autistic.  He walks, runs, plays and is actually welcomingly naughty at times.  He is in Kindergarten

Arun is 6 and from Cambodia. He is an amazing boy and such an inspiration.  He was born with a left arm below elbow, left leg above knee and a huge brain herniation in the front of his face (encephalocele). The doctors said he would never walk and talk.  He is currently in a regular kindergarten, receiving only P/T for his ever changing leg (prosthetic).  He is the joke teller/player of the family.

Saidi is 6 and from India.  She weighs a whopping 22 pounds and is 36 1/2 inches tall.  No one can get a handle on why...she has no speech, but average IQ.  She recently has been DX'ed with Developmental verbal apraxia (ahh..no kidding) and has a g-tube to help supplement her calories.  She is my most difficult child both behaviorally (emotionally) and medically.  Doctors think it was severe malnutrition..but experts indicate that it is not.  She just doesn't grow and we are now looking at HGH. EXPENSIVE!  We are fighting the insurance companies.  She also has PVL (periventricular leukomalacia)

Our most recent child is a 4 or 5 year old child from India.  Her name is Diya and she was born with cleft hands and no lower leg bones.  Mid January she will have amputations of the legs at the knees and be fitted with bilateral prosthetics.  We plan to do no surgeries on her hands as she is very very functional. She is brought and high spirited and loves life. Due to her uncertain age and exceptional school readiness, she is also in kindergarten.

With 4 kids in kindergarten (I home school 2, our school district is very wealthy and not responding so favorably to our S/N kids) and 2 older kids and teens (our next to  oldest who is 19 is in college and still lives home). We are a busy family

For five years, I ran a medical mission and brought over 250 kids from 16 countries to the USA for FREE medical care.  They returned to their homeland when done.  I have had kids in body casts, open heart surgeries, you name it. so I have some medical experience.

Thanks-Ellen