Adoptive parent attitudes toward their children with disabilities

Abstract

Adoption and child service agencies are overwhelmed with available children, and those with disabilities make up a disproportionate percentage. This nonrandom pilot study investigated attitudes about the adoption of children with disabilities by surveying 15 parents who had previously adopted a child without a disability. It was hypothesized that adoptive parents would feel the benefits of raising a child with a disability were not worth the emotional, physical, and financial costs. Survey data was statistically analyzed using frequencies, mean comparisons, and a reliability analysis. Results indicated that adoptive parents did feel those benefits were worth the increased costs. Though literature on the topic is sparse, special needs and disabilities were found to be strong factors in adoptive parents' decisions to adopt. Implications for practitioners and future researchers are that education and research needs to be continued in order to serve this overrepresented and underserved group of children.