Adopting Two with the Same Special Need

December 13, 2012 Laine, microtia, radial club hand 4 Comments

Our first four adopted children from China have all had completely different special needs: radial club hands, cl/cp, bi-lateral microtia, and CHD.

Our 5th adoption was our 5 year old Keith, who has radial club hands like our 7 year old daughter from China. When we saw his picture and his hands, we were amazed at how they looked just like Kimmie’s hands! We had experienced first-hand the blessing of adopting a child with this “special need” (which in our opinion, is not a special need!!!!!) and so we plunged forward to bring him home.

When Keith and Kimmie met, they were kindred spirits.



Call me crazy, but I swear there has been a sweet spring in Kimmie’s step that had not been there before.

It has been such a wonderful thing for them to have each other! I know as they get older, they will verbalize even more their true emotions about living with this special need, and about what it is like to have a sibling with the same hands. They are both young now, and about as far as we get in talking to them about this is “I like that Keith has hands like me”. Not profound or wordy. Just truth!

And so we are doing it again. God has blessed us with a little boy who Candie says, “has an ear like mine!” When we started out adopting, we never planned on adopting children with the same special need. We didn’t sit down and say, “Okay, for our next adoption, let’s find a child who has *this* special need, so that “so and so” can have a buddy.” (I’m not saying that’s bad if someone does that! I’m not saying that at all!!!!) I guess what I AM saying is that God knew who He wanted in our family. He knows! And He has a plan for EVERY life, and for EVERY family.

What a privilege to get to be a part of His plan!!!!!





4 responses to “Adopting Two with the Same Special Need”

  1. Stefanie says:

    Well, YAY!! Another sweet blessing for your precious family, I am so SO excited for y’all, Laine!
    We would sooo love to bring home a little one like our Vivienne, I could just imagine the JOY she would find in having a sibling that had similar special needs to hers 🙂
    So happy for Kimmie and Keith, and now Candie! God is GOOD!!
    oxoxo!

  2. Eileen says:

    We brought home two with the same special need also —more just because we’d already learned about it and already “knew the drill”. The interesting thing is, and the thing I hadn’t planned on, is that even though they share the same virus, the course of the virus has been very different with each child. Our daughter mercifully and miraculously no longer needs any monitoring. Our son will probably need monitoring all his life. They’re still young and haven’t asked any questions, but I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I hear, “Why did her disease go away and mine hasn’t?”

  3. Kate says:

    All three of our children were born with cleft lip and palate. When considering our second adoption we decided to adopt another boy with CL/P, specifically so our sons would have each other to lean on, understand each other, and be able to relate in that one way (funny how they are complete opposites in EVERY other way). Then when we were reviewing files for our third, we considered other special needs, but it wasn’t until we saw our daughters’s picture that we just knew she was meant to be part of our family. Then we realized that we know more about CL/P than most people and all of our children will benefit from our experience and knowledge, so for us, it just made sense. I was also being realistic about how laid back/lazy I am and thought it would be best if I was only advocating for one special need (honest truth).

  4. Cindy says:

    Hi Laine,
    We have an 8 year old we adopted from China 2 years age with radial club hand. i would love to be approved to read your blog if that would be ok with you.
    Thanks, Cindy
    pkm316@gmail.com

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