Trillium In The News

Hospital News

Trillium's Canadian Clinic for Adopted Children
The first service of its kind in Canada

December 2003

For parents adopting a child, their prospective son or daughter’s unknown or minimally available medical information is a source of concern and anxiety.

Many adopted children exhibit emotional and behavioural difficulties that require special attention and care. Common conditions, especially in internationally adopted children, include attachment difficulties and developmental delays- the result of the orphanage experience and multiple caregivers.

New adoptive parents often turn to their family doctor in their local community for advice and treatment for their child. But many doctors are not knowledgeable about international adoption medicine.

Trillium Health Centre’s Canadian Clinic for Adopted Children offers adoptive parents peace of mind. This unique adoption service offers pre-adoption consultation and assessment, and post adoption care to families involved in domestic and international adoption.

Adoptive parents from across the country visit Trillium’s adoption clinic to seek the counsel of Dr. Angelo Simone, Trillium’s Chief of Paediatrics, and a leading Canadian expert on adoption medicine as well as Susan O’Quinn, an Infant Development Consultant with training in child development and social work.

Approximately 2,000 internationally adopted children live in Canada. Of the 800 who live in the Greater Toronto Area, Dr. Simone, and his team, sees nearly 500 of them.

How Trillium’s Adoption Clinic Came To Be

When Sonia Kondrat and her husband were adopting internationally four years ago, limited community resources were available for adoptive parents and their adopted children.

When Sonia’s sons came home from Ukraine, a medical condition that could have been treated quickly went undiagnosed for some time by their physician, largely because the doctor did not know what to look for.

Driven by a desire to help families through the adoption process, Sonia established the Ukrainian Cradle Adoption Agency. She was also the driving force behind Trillium’s adoption clinic.

In 1999, Sonia contacted Trillium to determine the services that were provided for adopted children and their families, and to see if there was interest in establishing a partnership with the Ukrainian Cradle.

“As a paediatrician with a specialization in endocrinology, I see many children with growth issues. Many have been adopted from foreign countries,” says Dr. Simone. “When Sonia approached me, I realized help for parents and their foreign-born children was needed in our community.”

As it turned out, the service was needed across the country. Some parents make a special trip to Trillium after seeing or picking up their child. Others choose to visit with Dr. Simone ‘virtually’.

The Pre-Adoption Service – A Traditional and Virtual Reality

Since many families needing the services of Trillium’s adoption clinic live out of province, Trillium offers pre-adoption consultations and assessments over the Internet. Adopting parents provide Dr. Simone with their prospective children’s medical abstracts, photos and videos by e-mail. Others choose to mail, fax, or telephone the information to the clinic.

By studying the videos and photographs, Dr. Simone is able to determine if a child has abnormal physical characteristics or is experiencing developmental or behavioural setbacks. This analysis, coupled with a review of the child’s medical abstract, helps Dr. Simone make an accurate diagnosis.

“Certain features are characteristic of certain conditions,” says Dr. Simone. “When I compare a child’s physical abilities to their age I can determine if they are experiencing developmental delays.”

Susan O’Quinn is invaluable during the pre-adoption phase as she provides parents with practical information on the issues likely to impact the family unit. A key focus of pre-adoption consultation is increasing parents’ awareness of healthy child development and the unique characteristics and challenges of parenting children who have experienced environmental deprivation or multiple caregivers in their early years. Parents are supported to develop an understanding of transition planning from birth country to new home environment; to rethink western society’s child stimulation practices; to focus initially on building a secure attachment relationship with their child; and, to understand how loss and grief is inherent to the adoption situation, for the child and potentially the parents.

Post Adoption Care

Once the child is living with his or her new parents, Dr. Simone performs a thorough examination and provides all necessary immunizations. Blood tests and laboratory evaluations are conducted dependent on the child’s country of origin, as children from different countries tend to have different problems.

Parents and their adopted child are then referred to Susan O’Quinn who provides them with educational resources. Susan screens the child to assess his/her developmental risks and counsels the family on promoting attachment behaviour and encouraging the development of their child. She also identifies and helps families connect with appropriate community services in their geographic area.

“It is important to remember these children may be compromised because they have spent time in orphanages,” says Susan. “They should be looked upon as children with special needs, at least in the short-term.”

“The combination of medicine, child development and social work are invaluable to families,” says Lorna Montgomery, Clinical Director, Peel Infant Development. “The care following Susan’s initial screening is important for families as they parent their new child and lay the groundwork for their growth as a family for years to come.”

One Family’s Story

Jennifer Rylander and her husband, Brian Schouten, were the proud parents of Elizabeth, 7, when they decided to adopt another child from China.

Although Jennifer and Brian knew they would adopt Alison no matter what, they consulted with Dr. Simone so as to have a proper awareness of Alison’s condition.

“Dr. Simone couldn’t do much with the brief information and photos we had of Alison,” says Jennifer. “But he told us what to watch out for and gave us generic antibiotics and prescriptions for conditions common in children in China.”

Alison was nine months old when she was adopted. She’s now two and a healthy, happy little girl. Dr. Simone cared for Alison for one year after she arrived in Canada, but besides some minor ailments such as a lactose intolerance that cleared up quickly, Alison has no major health problems or developmental delays.

“The adoption clinic was very helpful,” says Jennifer. “Dr. Simone’s knowledge was reassuring.”

“Susan O’Quinn, the Infant Development Consultant was also a great resource,” continues Jennifer. “I took Alison to see Susan because I was concerned about her speech development. It turned out I had nothing to worry about, but having someone with Susan’s expertise tell me that put my mind at ease.”

Roula Giannidis is the Public Relations Officer at Trillium Health Centre.

Media Contacts

For all media enquiries, please call Public Relations at 905-848-7580 ext. 3832.