[sak9645]

Russian medical reports are very different from American ones. The whole concept of physical and mental illness is different.

Just because there is a fancy name on a medical report does NOT mean that there is, necessarily, something that we would consider an illness. At the same time, something that would worry us in the U.S. might not appear on the Russian medical report at all.

Also, alas, prejudice sometimes enters into the way a child is diagnosed. A child of Roma (Gypsy) heritage might be labeled mentally subnormal, for example. A child born with an extra couple of toes might be labeled as mentally defective, as well.

All in all, it is very important to show the medical NOT just to your local pediatrician, who may never have seen a Russian adoption medical report, but to an adoption medicine specialist who has seen hundreds of them, especially from Eastern Europe.

There are some very fine adoption medicine specialists and clinics in the U.S. Adoption medicine is now a recognized section of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Even if the adoption medicine specialists aren't in your state, and you won't be using them as your general pediatrician, they will be happy to review your referral reports, pictures, videos, etc. for a modest fee, and discuss their perceptions with you. While they can't guarantee that their conclusions will always be 100% accurate, since they haven't actually seen the child, they can usually tell you whether there is anything suggestive of a real concern.

Sharon