China Adoption – Dr. Todd Ochs Shares his Experiences

Dr. Todd Ochs recently presented the webinar "Adopting the Orphanage Child" on ThinkingOfAdopting.com. If you don't already know of Dr. Ochs, he is an international doctor and parent of five children, including 4 adopted from China (read Dr. Ochs' bio). During the webinar he shared his knowledge gained from his experience as both an international pediatric specialist as well as the father of children from China.

Dr. Ochs mentioned that the conditions and caregiver ratio in Chinese orphanages vary greatly. Of course, some of orphanages have more resources than others. If you are thinking about adopting from China, you may want to ask you adoption agency the following questions. What is the caregiver to child ratio in the orphanage? Is there enough light in the orphanage? How clean is the orphanage?

Dr. Ochs indicated that the children are often put in walkers. Therefore, after they are adopted, they may need to work on building strength in their backs and stomachs. Language is not encouraged in orphanages because it is too noisy. Children from China tend to be getting enough calories, but lack protein. The children who have 3 or less caregivers tend to have less attachment issues than the children who have more than that. He indicated that several of his children cried a lot on their first few nights with him and his wife. Although this is often difficult on new parents, this is a sign that the child was attached well to her former caregiver.

Dr. Ochs also mentioned that although the use of alcohol tends to be less in China, lead poisoning is a concern. There is lead pollution in the water, auto exhaust, paint and acidic rain. Lead can be very damaging to child and can cause irreversible brain damage. Therefore, an important question to ask your adoption agency is what their history has been of placing children with lead issues. Thankfully, HIV is fairly uncommon in China.

Another important issue that Dr. Ochs mentioned was that once you return home with your child it is important to get an overall assessment done on your child to determine if these are any challenges that need to be addressed. Your local school system may be able to perform this evaluation. There tends to be more resources available for children under the age of three (some school systems receive special funding to evaluate children under the age of three), so it is best to start the process as early as possible.

In conclusion, Dr. Ochs mentioned that the vast majority of children adopted from China are doing remarkably well. A child being adopted that is placed in a loving, caring home has a tremendous impact on a child.

My sincere thanks to Dr. Todd Ochs for presenting "Adopting the Orphanage Child" on ThinkingOfAdopting.com. We hope to have him back again soon.

Robin Bartko