Special placement needs

Special placement needs are unique factors that must be considered when matching a child to a family. They relate to the child’s experiences, the importance of finding a good match, and the special skill set required of the parents, among others.

These needs include factors such as:

• Siblings to be placed together
• Special skills to parent children with attachment challenges or trauma histories
• Special skills to parent teens
• Cultural matches
• Ability of the parent to embrace openness with birth family or foster families

All children adopted from government care have special placement needs by virtue of their experience before and during care. Over and above this, many of them also have special needs as defined by a disability.

Special needs

Special needs refers to children with disabilities. These may include ADHD, autism, FASD, vision, hearing, or speech impairment, Down Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, cognitive disabilities, or another condition. As you can see, these are generally conditions that come with a ‘diagnosis’.