Total newbie

melissa&mark

Hi there,

Little backstory on my family... We have two bio children ages 6 and 3 and I'm thinking of the possibility of adoption for a third child. My three year old daughter was diagnosed with a devastating form of epilepsy at 6 months old and we were told she would never walk or talk and that she would have a 95% chance of being intellectually disabled. Three years later she has beaten all the odds and is a perfectly age appropriate three year old! We never did find the cause of her epilepsy which is why I'm terrified to have another bio child in case it was a genetic problem. 

I don't know much about adoption yet but from the very limited research I've done foster to adopt scares me because it seems like those children are likely to have special needs, either medical or emotional and I just don't think I can handle all of that again. Domestic adoption seems like what we would be interested in but I'm not at all attached to adopting a newborn. Is there a way to adopt a toddler or older infant domestically or are those children usually in foster care already? Is there a way to foster to adopt but only accept a child that had parental rights terminated so there was no chance they could be taken away from you? 

Lastly, anyone have experience with adopting after having bio children? I'm concerned about if my adopted child would feel excluded or like an outsider since I already have two bio children. Thoughts?

Thanks!

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