I can still remember getting ‘the call’ during our first adoption process. Our agency coordinator was on the phone and they had a file for us to review. I remember the many different emotions I felt as we opened the file and photos and began to read. Within an hour of opening the file I had contacted the International Adoption Clinic (IAC) at our local children’s hospital, emailed them the file and photos, and set up an appointment with the IAC doctor to review and go over everything. A few days later we said yes to that file, and a few weeks after arriving home with our new son we visited that same IAC for a comprehensive post-adoption appointment.
Having an IAC review a file is the first step many families take when considering a child, and the IAC is often one of the first medical appointments a child has upon arriving home. Services commonly offered by IACs include:
• Pre-adoption services aimed at education and preparing prospective adoptive for the unique medical and developmental issues internationally adopted children may face. This typically includes review of all medical information, files, photographers, videos, etc. by an IAC physician followed by a phone or in person consultation with the family. In general, the IAC physician will go over the medical information contained in the file, evaluate photos/video, consult with other specialists if needed, provide questions that would be helpful to ask the agency/orphanage. Many IAC will also provide prescriptions for travel.
• During travel, most IACs offer ‘on-call’ support allowing you to email/call the IAC with any questions or concerns while you are in country.
• Post-adoption services begin once home and include identifying medical, developmental, and emotional issues. The post adoption IAC visits typically include such things as a complete physical examination, labs, hearing and vision screenings, referrals to specialists, development assessment and evaluation with a psychologist, evaluations with speech and physical therapists, meeting with IAC social worker, and referral to therapy services and early intervention.
Last year NHBO began a new project aimed at expanding the resources section of the website for each stage of the adoption process. And because IACs play such an important role in the pre-travel and newly home stages of adoption, we decided that a list of International Adoption Clinics by state would be a great addition to the growing list of resources.
Below you will find a list of International Adoption Clinics, alphabetized by state.
ALABAMA
Children’s Hospital of Alabama
Birmingham, AL
205-638-6964
Dr. Jennifer Chambers & Dr. Carin Kiser
adoption@peds.uab.edu
CALIFORNIA
Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital Long Beach
Long Beach, CA
562-728-5034
Dr. Gary Feldman
USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital
Oakland, CA
510-428-3010
Dr. Nancy Curtis
ncurtis@mail.cho.org
COLORADO
Children’s Hospital Colorado
Aurora, CO
720-777-4963
CONNECTICUT
Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital
New Haven, CT
203-785-7521
Dr. Carol Weitzman & Dr. Warren Andiman
gail.novey@yale.edu
FLORIDA
Nemours Children’s Hospital
Orlando, FL
407-567-3815
internationaladoption@nemours.org
Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital
St. Petersburg, FL
727-767-3117
Dr. Juan Dumois & Dr. Joel Shulkin
ILLINOIS
University of Chicago Comer Children’s
Chicago, IL
773-834-6821
Dr. Larry Gray
ucas@uchicago.edu
Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Chicago, IL
800-543-7362
INDIANA
Riley Hospital for Children
Indianapolis, IN
317-944-4846
KANSAS
Children’s Mercy Hospital
Kansas City, KS
816-983-6325
Dr. Douglas Swanson & Dr. W. Scott Colliton
KENTUCKY
Kentucky Children’s Hospital
Lexington, KY
859-257-4297
Dr. Shawn Taylor
shawn.taylor@uky.edu
MARYLAND
Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and Kennedy Krieger Institute
Baltimore, MD
443-923-9402
MASSACHUSETTS
Floating Hospital for Children at Tufts Medical Center
Boston, MA
617-636-5731
Dr. John Sargent
MINNESOTA
University of Minnesota
Minneapolis, MN
612-624-1164
Dr. Dana Johnson, Dr. Judith Eckerl, Dr. Cynthia Howard
iac@umn.edu
MISSOURI
St. Louis Children’s Hospital
St. Louis, MO
314-454-5437
Dr. Rachel Orscheln
Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital
St. Louis, MO
314-577-5643 ext. 2
Dr. Jennifer Ladage
facesintl@slu.edu
Children’s Mercy Hospital
Kansas City, MO
816-983-6325
Dr. Douglas Swanson & Dr. W. Scott Colliton
OHIO
Akron Children’s Hospital
Akron, OH
330-543-8530
Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Columbus, OH
614-355-6050
Dr. Aarti Chandawarkar
InternationalAdoption@nationwidechildrens.org
Cincinnati Children’s Hospital
Cincinnati, OH
513-636-2877
Dr. Mary Allen Staat
Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital
Cleveland, OH
216-445-3033
Dr. Elaine Schulte
schulte@ccf.org
UH Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital
Cleveland, OH
216-844-5437
Dr. Denise Bothe
PENNSYLVANIA
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Philadelphia, PA
267-426-5005
Dr. Susan Friedman, Dr. Rachel Hachen, Dr. Katie Lockwood
RHODE ISLAND
Hasbro Children’s Hospital
Providence, RI
401-444-4000
SOUTH CAROLINA
Children’s Hospital Greenville Health System
Greenville, SC
864-454-5130
Dr. Robin LaCroix, Dr. Joshua Brownlee, Dr. Sue Jue
MUSC Children’s Hospital
Charleston, SC
843-876-8512
Dr. Angela LaRosa & Dr. Andrea Summer
TENNESSEE
Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt
Nashville, TN
615-936-6800
Dr. Alice Rothman
International.Adoption@vanderbilt.edu
TEXAS
Texas Children’s Hospital
Houston, TX
832-822-1038
Dr. Mary Paul, Dr. Susan Gillespie, Dr. Elizabeth Collins
Children’s Health
Dallas, TX
214-456-6788
iam@childrens.com
UTAH
University of Utah Health Care/Primary Children’s Hospital
Salt Lake City, UT
801-213-3599
VIRGINIA
Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters
Virginia Beach, VA
757-668-6689
Dr. Douglas Mitchell
GBP.InternationalAdoption@chkd.org
Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU
Richmond, VA
804-828-2467
Dr. Suzanne Lavoie
slavoie@mcvh-vcu.edu
University of Virginia Children’s Hospital
Charlottesville, VA
434-924-9130
Dr. Mark Mendelsohn & Dr. Sarah Boggs
msc5s@virginia.edu
WASHINGTON
Center for Adoption Medicine
Seattle, WA
206-598-3006
Dr. Julia Bledsoe, Dr. Julian Davies, Dr. Cynthia Kertesz
adoption@uw.edu
WISCONSIN
Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, WI
262-432-6618
If you know of an IAC not listed, or if you find a broken link, please leave a comment or use our contact form to let us know.
Primary
Children’s hospital in Salt Lake City Utah has a wonderful international adoption clinic.
CHKD in va beach has a great clinic.
http://www.chkd.org/Our-Services/Specialty-Care-and-Programs/International-Adoption-and-Travel-Medicine/
That was not our experience 10 years ago. I hope they have gotten better! Their services were quite lacking when we adopted a child with craniofacial issues.
We visited the IAC at Lurie’s in Chicago and had a horrible experience (very shocking for that hospital). Our son was not screened for anything, I would recommend going to a different hospital. Our surgeon from Lurie’s was fabulous so we love the hospital just not the IAC.