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Special needs children ready to go to good home Joan Sweeney, who works for the South Carolina Department of Social Services (DSS) Region VI Adoptions, is a four-year veteran of foster parenting and is in the final stages of completing her own adoption of a sibling group of three foster children. “As of today, Region VI Adoptions has 15 special needs children who are ready to go to a good home,” she said. “What we would like to find now is a community that has a propensity for caring for these children.” By DSS standards, special needs refers to sibling groups and school-aged children. Individually, any child who may have significant emotional needs, an unknown genetic past or who may be medically fragile is considered special needs. Sweeney admitted that most of the available children at Region VI Adoptions fall under these standards. So in looking for a suitable community and with the high population of special needs children, who need homes, Sweeney thinks she may have found her solution—look to medical institutions and their caregivers in the community. “It just made sense to approach MUSC and its staff and faculty, being such a medical presence in Charleston,” Sweeney said. “I was just thinking that physicians and nurses who were interested in adoption already came with the capacity to care for a special needs child through their medical training. I hope I have found my community.” According to Sweeney, special needs adoption has perks to go along with it. First, DSS has a wide range of family services and resources bent on family preservation. They offer referrals to counseling, doctors and therapy. Financial assistance is available from Title IV-E money as well as other state pools of funding. The department also remains available for the children and their families well after the adoption process. Sweeney went on to say that 10 years after a successful adoption, DSS is still available to the family if needed. “As far as the type of people we are looking for to care for these children, the only real requirements are maturity, resources and a willingness to make a loving commitment to care for them,” Sweeney said.  For information on foster parenting or adoption call 800-922-1518 or visit  http://www.state.sc.us/dss/adoption.