Word: specializations
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...recent years the number of special-needs cases has been exploding. As reported instances of physical and sexual abuse of children have risen, so has the willingness of judges to remove the victims from parents who beat and molest them. Now such children constitute nearly 60% of the foster-care caseload. And by 1991 the number of newborns infected with the virus that causes AIDS is expected to rise...
Though one major study shows that most older adoptees -- even those ten and above -- flourish within their new families, for special-needs children suffering the effects of mistreatment or prenatal drug use, the future may depend crucially upon how quickly they can be brought into a stable, attentive home...
Faced with a shortage of couples for the growing numbers of special-needs children, adoption officials have been forced to discard orthodox notions of what constitutes a family. Two years ago a White House task force recommended that states eliminate barriers to adoption by singles like Mazzafro, working couples, older people and the physically handicapped. "We've had situations where married veterans have been encouraged to adopt special-needs children, but when they show up in a wheelchair, they are shown the door," says Mary Sheila Gall, who headed the group. "We had to change the system...
While the task force opposed adoption by homosexuals, growing numbers of gay men and women -- who are generally spurned by ordinary adoption agencies -- have sought special-needs kids. Says a New York social worker involved in placing the city's 300 homeless AIDS babies: "We have recruited single men because many of them are not afraid of AIDS. We also find men very nurturing parents...
...sensitive to tactile stimulation that it made her hysterical to walk on carpeting, grass or sand. She has been diagnosed as mildly retarded. With a good mother's militant optimism, Mary says the Hibbard house will make the difference. "All kids need structure," she explains. "But special-needs kids need it more...