Adopting a Deaf Child

StGabriels

StGabriels

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Hi Everyone,

My wife and I are in Melbourne, Fl and we are in the process of adopting a 4-year old deaf little boy from China.

We are looking for any resources, help, information we can get about learning ASL, how to provide a good education for him, anything we can. We have no experience with deafness personally so anything that can be passed along would be great.

I'd love to get my family up to speed in ASL as quickly as possible so that when he comes home it will be one less transition. He doesn't know sign language now but my assumption is that if the entire family is signing he will pick it up that much faster (much the way my youngest daughter picked up English).

Again, anything you can help with would be great and thano you in advance.:ty:
 
How far away from FSDB are you? I would contact them.....they'd LOVE to help! They also have good all over resources (ie Sign , HOH/speech services) and is a decent school (ie has a significent academic population....it's not one of those deaf schools that is filled with intellectucally disabled kids or is VERY poorly resourced)
FSDB | Do More, Be More, Achieve More
Also contact the American Society for Deaf Children: American Society for Deaf Children - Home
 
It looks like they are in St Augustine, about 2 hours North of me, but maybe they'll know of some more local resources.
 
StGabriels said:
It looks like they are in St Augustine, about 2 hours North of me, but maybe they'll know of some more local resources.
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Yes....Hopefully, there will be a few local Deaf ed programs where you are....
 
I would think this was a bad idea? I understand that yeah every child needs a home, but a couple with no deaf background adopting a deaf child?
 
Catastrophic said:
I would think this was a bad idea? I understand that yeah every child needs a home, but a couple with no deaf background adopting a deaf child?
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Interesting. I don't understand why it would be any different than a hearing couple having a deaf child.

I can see why you think the lack of knowledge might be a deterrent, but I see no substantiation of ill effect.
 
Most hearing couples are unhappy to find their child is deaf... That sucks, but doesn't mean it is not true. And even when they aren't, going through the whole process of learning sign and then not being able to even relate to their child because they have nothing in common and experience everything differently is usually how it goes.

I am not against it at all. I wouldn't even mind doing it myself. :D I think i am crazy and have off the wall ideas though :P To want to do it yourself and have your significant other as well, just hope you know what your getting into.
 
The OP knew the boy is deaf and they planning on learning ASL , the boy is lucky to have a family that want him. I can't imagine what it's like for a deaf child in China .
 
That is not the point. You know going to jail is a bad thing, but until you have been inside of it you don't actually know what it is like or what you're talking about. Jumping into things when you have no concept of them can be very foolish. I said I hope they are ready for what they are getting into.
 
That remind me of the T.V. reality program call "Little Couple". They adopted 2 different nationalities and they were little children meaning they are midget or dwarfs. The little couple had notion to adopt them as they are little people themselves. They understand about the condition of being a dwarfs.

So that is understandable that d/Deaf or Hard Of Hearing (HOH) couple can adopt their child(ren) who are deaf or hard of hearing which they know about the deafness and how they have been suffer through with it. It is their perspective.

Hearing couple have never experience of what is like to be deaf. That is why many hearing couple tried to help them get CI and not get ASL. They might want them to go in the hearing road and just depend on lipreading which is not a good thing as they can not read that good. But if the hearing couple want to sign with them, then that is good but wondering how long would they keep up signing if the hearing couple are tired of having to sign with their adopted Deaf child.

Yes, I can understand what Catastrophic is saying. He is right about that he was or is concern about a deaf child being adopted into the hearing family. The only problem I am concern about is that the hearing parent(s) is going to make the deaf child suffer in communication mode if not signing ASL. That is where the frustration and anger come in. :(
 
^ exactly. Hearing people have a problem assuming that there is something wrong with deaf people that needs to be fixed. They mean well, but don't comprehend that it is apart of who they are. Getting children from different cultures is a risky thing because of the difference in culture in general. If you get a child young enough you can usually get past that, but you can't just make a deaf child hear like you can raise a child from china in america. The child does not have to adapt, the parents do in this case. Most do not know what they are getting into I think.
 
Catastrophic said:
Hearing people have a problem assuming that there is something wrong with deaf people that needs to be fixed.
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Sounds like you have a problem yourself understanding how a person could open their heart to a child. Wouldn't it be great if people could keep their pessimism to themselves? It's sad that the OP came here for info and guidance, and for their efforts, they get labeled by someone who knows nothing about their lives but feels the need to generalize....

Laura
 
Ohh look who brought the negative. Someone seeks advice and a few of us try to point out some things about what the op might need to understand. You don't need to come in here and bash thanks.
 
Catastrophic said:
^ exactly. Hearing people have a problem assuming that there is something wrong with deaf people that needs to be fixed. They mean well, but don't comprehend that it is apart of who they are. Getting children from different cultures is a risky thing because of the difference in culture in general. If you get a child young enough you can usually get past that, but you can't just make a deaf child hear like you can raise a child from china in america. The child does not have to adapt, the parents do in this case. Most do not know what they are getting into I think.
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You tend to group all hearing people in the same catergory. Hearing people are individuals just like us deaf are individuals. The adopting parents are asking about recourses to teach their new child ASL. China's orphanages are over flowing with children. This child is deaf and he should have the same opportunity to be adopted as a hearing child. Every child deserves to be loved and happy and these parents sound wonderful. I wish them the very best.
 
I already said in my first post every child deserves a home. To many overly sensitive people here. I also said I would do it myself.
 
Catastrophic said:
That is not the point. You know going to jail is a bad thing, but until you have been inside of it you don't actually know what it is like or what you're talking about. Jumping into things when you have no concept of them can be very foolish. I said I hope they are ready for what they are getting into.
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I see no difference from adopting a child that speech a difference language than one that deaf. They both will need to learn a new language . I know a few people that adopted a child from China and it worked out find. There are a lot resources for the OP to use. Hearing people have deaf or hoh babies all time and they had no idea their baby was going to be born this way. The OP is not going into this blindly , they know the boy is deaf and came here for support . Did your parents know what they where getting when you where born? I not know if your parents are hearing , deaf or hoh.
 
Learning another language is not like learning Sign. It is completely different. Learning another language requires learning different words. Sign requires learning a whole different form of communication. Hearing people do not speak with their hands and face, and quite often don't even look at who they speak to. It is much harder than learning another lang. Learning sign requires completely new tools
 
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