When my husband and I first decided we were going to adopt we were given the long check list of the needs we thought we could handle. I thought this was a daunting task as I knew there would be children we would essentially saying no to a child by not checking off that box, …Read More
special need highlight: adopting a child with epilepsy
April 20, 2014
Central Nervous System, epilepsy, Family Stories
0 Comments
special need highlight: adopting a child with anal atresia
April 12, 2014
anorectal malformation, Family Stories, imperforate anus, Urogenital System
0 Comments
Until we decided to pursue a special needs adoption from China I had never heard of anal atresia (more commonly called imperforate anus or anorectal malformation in the US). My first introduction to the term was via the special needs medical checklist from our agency, and I can remember reading through the list with our …Read More
special need highlight: Adopting a child with Osteogenesis Impefecta
April 2, 2014
Advocacy, Family Stories, Orthopedic, osteogenesis imperfecta
2 Comments
This summer traveling in China with Superkids I met a girl with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI). This was remarkable in itself because I have only met maybe 20 children with this special need in my 25+ years as a physical therapist. I have a special place in my heart for ever child with this special need. …Read More
special need highlight: children with cancer (or in remission)
March 30, 2014
Blood Conditions, cancer, Family Stories, retinoblastoma
4 Comments
We tend to forget that our daughter had cancer. There are reminders, like the huge scar across her belly, but to us she is just our lively, lovable two-year daughter. We know that cancer is a scary word, and it was a scary time that Maya went through, but she survived it and we would …Read More
special need highlight: adopting a child with brain scan issues
March 16, 2014
brain damage syndrome, Central Nervous System, enlarged ventricle, Family Stories
5 Comments
We adopted our son, Jackzhen, in 2012. We met parents on that journey that were already talking about their next adoption, while still in China. I couldn’t fathom returning so soon. Jackzhen was our 4th child and all the adjustments that we were about to endure was all I could handle at that point, especially …Read More
saying yes to complex conditions
February 20, 2014
complex medical, Family Stories, Rebecca, Urogenital System
7 Comments
Checking off medical conditions that we would accept on our agency’s medical checklist, and not checking those we wouldn’t accept, was among the hardest tasks of our adoption process. Our human side wanted to maintain our comfortable life, and longed for easy. In our hearts though, we knew that God’s plans are always much higher …Read More
special need highlight: adopting a child with cerebral palsy
February 18, 2014
Central Nervous System, cerebral palsy, Family Stories
4 Comments
At the end of a long road of infertility, miscarriage, miracle daughters, and a Korean-born son, we found ourselves at the end of an adoption attempt, that after 4 years, had resulted in a son forever in his birth country due to political reasons. We were devastated. That long process that ended in heartbreak was …Read More
special need highlight: adopting a child with cleft lip and palate
February 12, 2014
cl/cp, cleft lip, Craniofacial, Family Stories
1 Comments
Two years ago I fell in love with a very small 7 month old little boy with big sad eyes and the hiccups. He didn’t cry much and loved to be held. He was the most beautiful little boy. He also had a severe bilateral cleft lip and palate. At that time, I was on …Read More
waiting child highlight: adopting a deaf child
February 2, 2014
Family Stories, hearing loss, Sensory System, shared list, special focus
3 Comments
For as long as I can remember, I have always dreamed of having a little girl. I also dreamed of adopting an Asian girl, but I wasn’t sure where she’d be from- China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, or the Philippines? In September of 2010, I stumbled on an advocacy blog for children waiting in China. …Read More
Waiting child highlight: Can a Blind Kid Really do That?
January 24, 2014
congenital blindness, Family Stories, vision issues, vision loss
2 Comments
Before I started working for Bethel China, I had never had any interaction with children or adults who are blind or visually impaired (VI). Spending time with these kids has been a huge learning curve for me in changing my perceptions about what a child with a visual impairment can do. As a sighted person, …Read More
Special need highlight: adopting a child with club feet
January 22, 2014
clubfoot, Family Stories, Orthopedic
0 Comments
It was a day in October of 2012 that I will never forget. We had been in the process to adopt a special needs child from China, and we got the call that changed our lives for the better! We were told about a little boy with club foot. Two things about this call were …Read More
waiting child highlight: older girls
January 4, 2014
Family Stories, girls, large families, older child adoption, shared list
5 Comments
To open your heart to a child who may or may not remember her biological parents. Or is attached to an auntie. To be bringing home a child who has already developed a personality and habits. To be bringing home a child whom you may have chosen to name after yourself (Ruthi) only to have …Read More
special need highlight: focus on dwarfism
December 18, 2013
achondroplasia, dwarfism, Family Stories, Orthopedic
2 Comments
After adding 2 beautiful girls from China and 2 incredible boys from Ethiopia to our already full and active family of three biological kiddos. We thought for sure we were done adding to our family. We felt God leading us to care for the orphans in other ways – advocating for waiting children, meeting with …Read More
special need highlight: focus on down syndrome
December 2, 2013
Developmental System, Down syndrome, Family Stories
1 Comments
From a very young age, individuals with Down Syndrome (DS) have attracted my attention. As a result, I have spent more time with the DS population than the average 38-year-old woman. In June of 2012, when my husband and I came to a place where we were both ready to add a child through adoption …Read More
special need highlight: focus on congenital nevus
November 20, 2013
Congenital nevus, Family Stories, Skin Conditions
9 Comments
During the first few months of our adoption process, I poured through waiting child files and researched varying special needs in anticipation of finding our child. When we finally got the call from our social worker telling us she had a file for us to look at, I was ecstatic. I thought we had a basic knowledge …Read More
Welcome to our Family Stories page
October 20, 2012
Family Stories
0 Comments
The link list below is a representation of the special needs covered by the stories shared here. Feel free to use these links to navigate to the different stories here on No Hands But Ours. You will find stories here submitted by families who have adopted children with special needs. And who have chosen to …Read More
Our adoption story
October 20, 2012
Blood Conditions, Family Stories, ITP (idiopathic thrombocytopenia purpura), Sensory System, vision issues
5 Comments
Adoption is word that has been said, discussed, and considered in our family since we have been married. Noel and I just recently celebrated 17 years of marriage, and early in our marriage we thought it would be how God would grow our family. We experienced a very trying time of infertility, but God did …Read More
Thank God they ARE mine!
October 14, 2012
cerebral palsy, Family Stories, hearing loss, limb difference, moyamoya, neurofibromatosis, Sensory System
4 Comments
Our story starts in 2004, when I had a complicated pregnancy with my first child, Gianna, and was advised not to ever get pregnant again. This was actually fine with me because I’d always been drawn toward adoption. We adopted our second child in 2007, another daughter we named Camille, from Kazakhstan. After strong suspicions …Read More
Madelyn's adoption story
October 5, 2012
Family Stories, limb difference, missing fingers/toes, Orthopedic, radial club hand
0 Comments
About eight years ago we began to consider adoption. We started by investigating foster care adoption in 2004, it didn’t work out. Fast forward to 2010—– we met a family with a precious three year old little girl from China. That afternoon we both said, it is time. We didn’t think we qualified for China, …Read More
Rachel
September 6, 2012
Family Stories, growth hormone deficiency, lysinuric protein intolerace, missing fingers/toes, reactive attachment disorder
2 Comments
By Kathy, mom to Rachel from China with a SN of missing fingers Eight years ago we adopted a little girl from China with a hand difference. We had lost our firstborn son to Trisomy 13 shortly after his birth in 1999. He had many visible anomalies, such as extra fingers and a cleft lip …Read More
Lucas
February 21, 2011
Family Stories, heart defect, VSD
0 Comments
by Lyn, mom to Lucas from China with an SN of repaired VSD I was not one of those people who longed to adopt a child my whole life. My husband Bob and I had two biological girls and thought our family was complete. Adoption had never occurred to us until December 2005. That Christmas, …Read More
Pei
February 7, 2011
Craniofacial, facial palsy, Family Stories, hearing loss, microtia, Sensory System
0 Comments
By Nicole, mom to Pei from China with a SN of microtia and facial palsy Journeys of Faith Often Have Limited Sight We were a family of four before we traveled to Russia in July of 2008 to meet a little girl who needed a family. We had no information about this child prior to …Read More
my son
April 15, 2010
cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories, guest post, older child adoption
0 Comments
Today’s post is a guest post, written by Amy who is in China now adopting her son, Xinran 🙂 In just a few short weeks, 19 days to be exact, a 4 year old little boy with dark brown hair and black eyes will stand in front of me. He will call me Mama. I …Read More
Sara
April 14, 2010
Family Stories, heart defect, VSD
0 Comments
by Tricia, mom to Sara from China with an SN of congenital heart defect (VSD) My husband and I had a strong desire to grow our family via adoption and we were soon drawn to China’s program and the idea of adding a daughter to our family. We signed up with CCAI in 2007 and …Read More
Gabe
March 28, 2010
congenital glaucoma, Family Stories, Sensory System, vision issues
0 Comments
by Jess, mom to Gabe Xulu from China with congenital glaucoma While Tim and I were paper-chasing we knew from the get go that we would be adopting SN, so even before we submitted our dossier we filled out our SN checklist. Our agency didn’t want us to submit it though until we submitted our …Read More
Joseph
March 5, 2010
cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories
0 Comments
by Angie, mom to Joseph from China with an SN cleft lip and palate The word the Lord has used over and over to speak to our hearts is treasure. When He spoke to our hearts for the first time in Sept. 2003 about adoption He reminded us of our three treasures. We have three …Read More
Kooper and Kinley
February 16, 2010
adopting two at once, cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories, older child adoption
0 Comments
by Connie, mom to Kinley (2) and Kooper (13) adopted from China at the same time In August of 2003 when God instantly gripped the hearts of my husband and I for the orphan, we had no idea where He would lead us. We knew He was calling us to a task much larger than …Read More
His Pleading Eyes…..
October 30, 2009
arthrogryposis, cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories, Linny, Orthopedic, Sensory System
7 Comments
I had poured through a “billion” special needs kids faces, all of them drawing an “ooohh” or an “awwww”….but then I saw his face….and I gasped. (It seems that whenever I gasp I know God is up to something big.) Really. I remember staring at him and studying the expression on his sweet little face, …Read More
Hope
October 11, 2009
amniotic band syndrome, Family Stories, limb difference, missing fingers/toes, Orthopedic
0 Comments
by Amy, mom to Hope from China with Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS) When we set out to adopt after having four biological children – we were looking to adopt a girl that was younger than our youngest son, who was 20 months at the time. Since we were already the parents of 4 young children …Read More
Meah
September 22, 2009
Craniofacial, Family Stories, hemifacial microsomia
0 Comments
by Melinda, mom to Meah from China with hemifacial microsomia When my husband and I were in the process of adopting again, we had looked at all the programs and chose to adopt minor special needs from Vietnam. We also thought we would adopt a 2 to 4 year old… little did we know. While …Read More
Mary's daughter
August 31, 2009
Family Stories, HepB+, Infectious, Living Hope
0 Comments
by Mary, mom to a daughter from China with Hepatitis B It all started after watching three beautiful Chinese girls in dance class with my daughter each week. I had time to sit and chat with the mother who adopted these three beautiful girls from China. Each week we talked more about the adoptions. Adoption …Read More
Ryan
June 22, 2009
Family Stories, hearing loss, microtia, Sensory System
0 Comments
by Darcy, mom to Ryan from China with bilateral microtia/atresia “Such A Time As This” After several years of trying to adopt domestically, God led us to pursue international adoption. In October of 2005, our family traveled to China to adopt our daughter, Rylee. Our oldest son, my husband, and myself soaked up the experience, …Read More
Chu Meng
June 5, 2009
arachnoid brain cyst, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, Family Stories, seizures
1 Comments
by Cheri, mom to Chu Meng from China with Arachnoid Brain Cyst (later to find out stroke induced Cerebral Palsy), Developmental Delay, Seizures Chu Meng’s story is a bit unusual but her story all the same. Our family like many families started out as a NSN family. Our LID was May 16, 2006. I started …Read More
Ella
June 3, 2009
CWA, Family Stories, heart defect, VSD
0 Comments
by Kelly, mom to Ella from China with a congenital heart defect The decision to pursue a “special needs” adoption when we were ready to bring home our second daughter, our fifth child, was an easy one for us to make. In fact, we never even considered ‘getting back in line’ for a NSN (non-special …Read More
Naomi ChuYu
May 4, 2009
cleft gumline, cleft lip, Family Stories, HepB+
0 Comments
by Amy, mom to Naomi from China with cleft lip and gumline, Hep B and an abundance of joy Our adoption journey started in 2002. My first born son was just 2 years old. We were at an Easter party when a friend stopped by with her brand new daughter from China. She did not …Read More
Jaxon
April 13, 2009
cleft gumline, cleft lip, Family Stories
0 Comments
by Stephanie, mom to Jaxon from China with bilateral cleft lip and cleft gumline Our son Jaxon joined our family as our first son, but third child. Our first adopted daughter, Jaida, was adopted through the regular program, in 2005. When we went to her orphanage, and since returning home, I was haunted by an …Read More
Kaylin Mei Lian
April 10, 2009
Family Stories, heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot
0 Comments
by Anita, momma to Kaylin Mei Lian from China with Tetralogy of Fallot (CHD) As we began the adoption of our daughter, Kaylin, we went into it like many families requesting a non-special needs child as young as possible from China. We had already been blessed with three older, biological children who were healthy, and …Read More
Annabelle
April 7, 2009
Family Stories, megacolon
0 Comments
by Shelley, mom to Annabelle from China with a SN of megacolon We started paper-chasing for daughter #2 back in August 2006. Shortly before we started the paper chase again, we were already seeking treatments for Francesca’s bowel issues and learning so much. As the wait time from LID to referrals increased (we were finally …Read More
Francesca
April 5, 2009
Family Stories, megacolon, NSN, undiagnosed SN
0 Comments
by Shelly, mom to Francesca from China(NSN) with an undiagnosed SN of megacolon Here is part one to our story starting with our oldest daughter, Francesca, who is truly one beautiful little girl… inside and out! When Keith and I started our adoption journey (after experiencing some set backs on starting our family) we never …Read More
Mylee
March 31, 2009
arthrogryposis, clubfoot, Family Stories, misdiagnosed SN, Orthopedic
0 Comments
by Mandi, mom to Mylee from China with a SN or arthrogryposis, originally diagnosed by China as clubfoot Adoption has always been a dream of mine, specifically China. I don’t have a specific moment or story of when I decided I wanted to adopt, nor did I know how or when I would adopt, I …Read More
Tia
March 25, 2009
Family Stories, heart defect, VSD
0 Comments
by Ellie, mom to Tia from China with VSD If you would have told us 3 or 4 years ago that we would choose a special needs adoption I can guarantee you we would have said NO WAY! You see before we began our adoption journey we had two healthy biological children and had chosen …Read More
Moriah
March 21, 2009
Central Nervous System, cerebral atrophy, Family Stories, kyphosis, Orthopedic, scoliosis
0 Comments
by Amy, mother to Moriah from China with scoliosis, kyphosis, and cerebral atrophy Our three bio children were 9, 5, and 3 when we began our adoption journey in February, 2006. We submitted an application for a NSN girl under twelve months of age. As time went on the wait increased, we discussed submitting a …Read More
Tim
March 16, 2009
CCAI, Family Stories, older child adoption
0 Comments
by Darlene, mom to Tim from China adopted as an older child Trust God Completely (Proverbs 3:5,6) Our story began in the fall of 2004. God had started to nudge my heart about adoption through circumstances that took place during this time. It seemed that I wanted to make sure He was leading me in …Read More
Hope
March 10, 2009
congenital blindness, Family Stories, Sensory System, vision issues, vision loss
0 Comments
by Kim, mom to Hope from China with a SN of congenital blindness A few years ago, our 6 year old daughter Abigail heard about the orphans in China. How little girls are routinely abandoned, and it rocked her world. She couldn’t stop talking about it, and one day she declared that when she grows …Read More
Bethany
March 8, 2009
Family Stories, limb difference, missing arm/leg, Orthopedic
0 Comments
by Tamera, mom to Bethany from China with a limb difference Preparing for Special Needs Adoption Adopting several children from China has been filled a joy-filled, faith-building, abundant adventure. We have four biological children and feel as though we are experienced parents. However, sometimes even experienced parents can find that they are not adequately prepared …Read More
Ally and Alaina
March 6, 2009
Family Stories, heart defect, PDA, VSD
0 Comments
by Lucy, mom to Ally and Alaina from China with heart defects We began our adoption process like most families – waiting for a NSN “healthy” child. We never even considered ANY SN at the beginning. Early in our “wait” I began looking at children on the Waiting Child list, but was always scared away …Read More
Mya Jian
March 4, 2009
ASD, CCAI, Family Stories, heart defect, VSD
0 Comments
by Sara, mom to Mya Jian from China with ASD & VSD “Without it she wouldn’t be ours.” Her scar. Her badge of survival and hope. The 6″ line that runs the length of her chest. It’s unevenness & healed broken rib, a forever reminder. Without it, she wouldn’t be ours. I dreamed about a …Read More
Sarah Pearl
March 2, 2009
cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories
0 Comments
by Julia, mom to Sarah Pearl from China with cleft lip and palate Once upon a time, there was a baby girl with a cleft lip and palate, named Guan Yan Nan. Living in an orphanage in a Southern Province of China, she did not know there was a woman living in another land, who …Read More
David
February 27, 2009
cl/cp, Craniofacial, Family Stories, hypospadias, Urogenital System
0 Comments
by Mara and Kevin, parents to David from China with cleft lip/palate and hypospadias Kevin and I knew before we were married that we might not be able to have biological children, so we had talked about adoption for years before we started the process in September 2006. Even then, we thought about a special …Read More
Candace
February 25, 2009
Craniofacial, Family Stories, hearing loss, microtia, older child adoption, Sensory System
0 Comments
by Laine, mom to Candace from China with bilateral microtia/atresia Older Child Adoption (and out of birth order, too!) After experiencing toddler adoption (two at one time!), my husband and I felt the call again from the Lord to adopt… only this time He called us to an eight year old girl who has bi-lateral …Read More
