Susan Badeau, is from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Susan is a policy consultant with Casey Family Programs. She is the adoptive parent of 20 children who have special needs and she's very involved in parenting her own family and in policy issues for children who are adopted and enter foster care on the national level. Below is a picture of the Badeau family at a family wedding.

Session Resources

www.nacac.org North American Council on Adoptable Children. One of the major organizations for special needs adoption in the U.S. Many helpful resources for families, including Glossary of Terms, How to Adopt, Educate Yourself about Adoption, Investigate Ways to Cover Adoption Expenses, and more. This organization was founded in 1974 by adoptive parents, and advocates for the right of every child to a permanent family. Holds an annual conference for parents and professionals, ha many helpful publications and links to major adoption resources.

www.calib.com/naic Website of the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse, a service of the Children’s Bureau, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

This comprehensive federal website covers all aspects of adoption, including adoption of children with special needs. Resources in include fact sheets, publications, legal resources, federal statutes, statistics, directories and databases and much more. Of particular interest to families of CSHCN are the fact sheets "Adopting Children with Developmental Disabilities", Adopting a Child with Special Needs", "Subsidized Adoption: A Source of Help for Children with Special Needs and their Families"," Interstate Compact on Adoption and Medical Assistance", and many other materials on mental health services, a consumer guide to adoption web sites, financial information, and a listing of newsletters and magazines.

http://nac.adopt.org/ The National Adoption Center (NAC) Faces of Adoption website provides photographs and descriptions and offers a wealth of information that will help you people learn more about adoption.

www.adopting.com Billing itself as "the largest adoption resources index on the internet", this site was started by an adoptive parent, and is gearing to prospective adoptive parents. Both general and special needs adoption resources are covered in depth, in addition to resources on international adoptions.

www.spaulding.org/adoption/NRC-adoption.html This is the website of the agency Spaulding for Children, which runs the National Resource Center for Special Needs Adoption. (NRC). NRC offers technical assistance, consulting and training to public and private agencies and providers related to special needs adoption, training curricula, video and print resources and conferences.

http://www.nacac.org/PA0101.html This is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and families, Children’s Bureau, document on Adoption Assistance Eligibility, issued on 1/23/01.

Provides an update on which adopted children with special needs are eligible for Title IV-E adoption assistance (as well as explaining which children are not eligible). One very helpful feature is the Matrix on Pathways to Adoption Assistance Eligibility.

http://aaicama.aphsa.org This is the website of the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on adoption and Medical Assistance.37 states are currently signatories to ICAMA, and 6 additional states have legislation pending. ICAMA was established to ensure the delivery of medical and other services to children and their adoptive families on an interstate basis. The Compact applies to Medicaid coverage as well as psychosocial post-adoption services.

http://www.adoption.org/ AdoptioNetwork The AdoptioNetwork was established in the fall of 1994 to use the Internet as a means for improving the dissemination of information about adoption.

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