This week I have been writing about adoption medicine and common health issues in internationally adopted children. Today I am going to conclude this mini-series with some thoughts on adoption and health.

While many parents worry about the health of the child they may adopt, especially when it is an international adoption, it is important to know that most children come home to their new parents with only minor ailments, such as the things I have been blogging about. Lice, scabies, ringworm, giardia and other such things are icky and not fun to deal with, but they are usually very minor in the grand scheme of life and certainly occur in plenty of children who are not internationally adopted. Parenthood is a oftentimes a yucky job. That's just the way it is.

Malnutrition and developmental delay, which are also common in internationally adopted children, are often overcome with some love, attention, nutrition and medical care.

I recommend that parents adopting internationally consult with an international adoption doctor before they travel. Many medications and treatments for the common ailments can be brought along on the trip to get your child, and treating for lice, scabies, etc. before you bring your child home is a really good way to not bring it home and spread it to the rest of your family, and to just get rid of it asap.

Consulting with an international adoption specialist can also help you prepare for once your child is home, and help you know what tests and screenings should be done. Do not leave this until after your child comes home, as the appointment should be scheduled closely after your child arrives, and you will likely be very tired, overwhelmed and in no state of mind to find, consult with and make an appointment with a doctor. Also, many of the better-known clinics have waits to be seen.

I have heard some people say that they decided not to adopt because they were worried that their child would not be healthy, or they were worried they would "get" a child with HIV. Dr. Jane Aronson, (aka The Orphan Doctor) has lots of great information on her website, but one page in particular is very encouraging to people with these types of worries. She has many detailed statistics, but the one that stands out is that between the early 1990s and 2003, with all of the international adoptees that were tested for HIV in 17 international adoption centers, only 0.16% tested HIV+ (that includes adoptions from Vietnam, Russia, Romania, Panama and Cambodia). Of course HIV testing has continued to become more accurate and available throughout the world, and the risk of parents adopting a child with HIV (who aren't willingly choosing to do so) is extremely slim.

While it is good to know that the majority of internationally adopted children do come home to their parents in overall good health, it is also important to know and be prepared for the fact that children do sometimes come home to their new families with undiagnosed illnesses and/or conditions, some minor and some more significant. The thing with kids is, whether you give birth to them or adopt them, they do not come with guarantees. Becoming a parent, no matter how you go about it, involves some level of risk that your child may not be in perfect health.

And, for what it is worth, the parents I know of children who were born with medical conditions or adopted with medical conditions, would not trade their children for all of the "healthy" kids in the world.

When adopting, while the risks of a child having an undiagnosed illness or condition cannot be completely eliminated, they can be reduced significantly by discussing with agencies what tests and screenings are done on the children they place and the medical care that is available in the countries that they work in. As always, do your research.