[meowhouse]

My husband and I are adopting from China. We just committed to an agency we think is wonderful. We are being completely open with them about the fact that we are both on anti-depressants for a history of depression, but we are both very stable high functioning people with good careers. Does that information about our diagnsosis of depression go on the homestudy, and thus to China? I wonder what their attitude toward these meds. are. I just saw a new report yesterday that now 28 million Americans are on anti-depressants--usually from their primary care doctor.

Anyone know?
meowhouse

[Xanny]

I believe it does go into your homestudy. I know that our homestudy agency did ask us, and our doctor (through a form that we had him fill out), whether we are on any medications.

--Xanny

[Sienna3]

meowhouse,though I am not familiar with China specifically, I would be surprised if the info was not included in your homestudy. Since it appears that you have disclosed this to your agency and perhaps are already their client, I would ask your agency to confirm that it is not a problem.It is in the agency's best interest to only accept clients that appear to have no barriers to adopting, so I would hope that they would have told you if they had an issue with it.

[sak9645]

... does not want people with psychiatric illnesses to adopt, because they may have difficulty being good parents, agencies have spent a lot of time talking with the CCAA and adoption authorities in other countries about mental health care in the U.S.

I can't speak for other countries, but my sense is that China knows, by now, that the use of mental health services by Americans is vastly different from the use of mental health services in much of the rest of the world. As an example, in the U.S., a person may consult a psychiatrist or other mental health practitioner because of issues surrounding a diagnosis of infertility, as well as because of sadness over losing a job, anxiety about speaking in public, the stress of being caregiver to elderly parents, etc. In many countries, including China, a person rarely encounters a mental health practitioner unless he/she is severely impaired.

In the U.S., too, it is very common for a person to be given medications such as anti-depressants and anti-anxiety drugs for fairly mild conditions, such as prolonged sadness after miscarriage or stillbirth. In many countries, on the other hand, medications are prescribed only for people with severe psychiatric illness. I believe that China is well aware of this fact.

In this country, homestudy workers will usually a person to adopt if he/she has seen a therapist, gotten counseling, and taken medication for a fairly "simple" diagnosis, such as situational depression or anxiety, which has not resulted in inpatient hospitalization and/or attempts to commit suicide. They know the stresses of modern life, and tend to feel that recognizing a problem and seeking help in addressing it is positive, not negative.

Homestudy workers may have problems approving people with more complex diagnoses, such as bipolar disorder. And they are not likely to approve people who have had recent or repeated hospitalizations or suicide attempts.

The therapist will usually need to write a letter stating the person's diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis, and commenting on his/her fitness to parent. Once in a rare while, a homestudy agency will require a person to go for a second opinion to a therapist known to the agency.

In general, a homestudy WILL have to address the fact that a person saw a mental health practitioner, received counseling, and currently takes prescription medication for depression or anxiety. An experienced homestudy worker will know how to present this material sensitively, so that it does not alarm either the USCIS or the foreign country.

Sharon

[MaryM]

I feel it's necessary to comment on the preceding post because I believe it is not well-informed about the nature of mental illness and overemphasizes the use of medication and therapy for more minor problems. Obviously if a hopeful parent is clearly unstable, as defined by a psychiatrist or as observed by a home study worker, or if a hopeful parent has a recent past of a suicide attempt, a home study worker may be unlikely to recommend them for adoption. And clearly, there is a bias in many people, including the adoption community, against mental illness of any kind, for the simple reason that it is poorly understood by the general population. I feel it is important to note that mental illness is treatable, and that many, many people function exceptionally well despite their diagnosis. Certainly many people are on these medications and use therapy for less serious issues than mental illness, but most are on them for a diagnosed illness. There are a great many people with mental illness are very, very good parents, contrary to what is implied by the previous post. The original post mentioned a history of depression, which is a major mental illness, and as the writer notes, she and her husband are both being treated effectively and are high-functioning people. The response I am referring to implies that while treatment for situational or other issues is acceptable, treatment for major mental illness is not. I believe it is very misleading and damaging to suggest that people with mental illness cannot parent effectively. Many such people follow their course of treatment and make exceptional parents. On the other hand, there are a great many people with serious problems who never seek help and make terrible parents. With regard to adoption, all the agencies with whom I have discussed this agree that what is necessary is a letter of reference from a doctor and/or therapist assessing the client's health and ability to parent. If that letter states the person is able to nurture and parent a child well, an adoption agency or home study agency has in fact no legal right to bar a client based on their illness. It is a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act to do so. I take particular issue with the suggestion that bipolar disorder would be an obstacle in itself to adoption. Bipolar is completely treatable, and if treated correctly, bipolar people are some of the most high-fuctioning people around. The particular bias against bipolar is based on an extreme misunderstanding of the illness, and a letter from a doctor can attest to a potential parent's ability to parent well.
-Marya

[Sienna3]

MaryM,
I wanted to point out that even though a homestudy worker or agency may approve of the parent with a psychological illness that is being controlled, the American with Disabilities Act does not fully apply when we are talking about intercountry adoptions as the laws of the foreign country have to be abided by. You are correct that domestic adoption situation, one cannot be discriminated against due to American Disablities act.Sharon discussed at length China, from which the original poster is attempting to adopt from.

I will add what the laws of the country I am adopting from, Moldova, say and I quote "The following conditions disqualify prospective adoptive parents from adopting in Moldova: HIV/AIDS, psychological and behavioral conditions, drug addiction, chronic alcoholism, chronic somatic diseases (disability of the 1st and 2nd degree), cancerous forms of oncological diseases, viral hepatitis B,C,D. The following conditions may temporarily disqualify a person from adopting: sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and severe virulent diseases"

My doctor had to sign a statement saying that my husband and I do not have psychological illness,(which we don't), but in some countries even having a diagnosis(regardless of being under control) will disqualify you. Fair? No, but that is the foreign law.

Other countries do not see psychological illness in the same way as we do in the US and that is all that I read from Sharon's response.