Local psychologist that specializes in attachment issues, RAD and other issues. - 504-454-3015. Come highly recommended by a LEEAF family.
Maria Lathrop-Skalos, ACSW, LCSW, The Relationship Center - Individual, family, and group therapy for adoptees and adoptive parents. 504-239-1974 or 504-899-2714
Medical and Developmental Resources/Specialists:
Early Steps - Louisiana Early Intervention Program for ages 0 - 3years This has been one of the best resources for LEEAF families, and we highly recommend that you contact your local Early Steps coordinator soon after arrival home. Your child may qualify to receive one of the many services that they can provide such as speech, OT, and PT. For the name of the contact person in your area, see Early Steps Regional Contacts. You can request that they come to your home for the evaluation. You can also request that an interpreter come to the first evaluation so that the most accurate results can be obtained. It is best not to use the "wait and see" approach with children that have spent any amount of time in an orphanage. Parents are their child's best advocate! Early intervention can help you to avoid future problems. For children over 3 years, contact your local school and ask to speak with the Child Search team. The same services can provided for children over the age of three.
Russian Adoption Medical Services - This is a very resourceful web site that has plenty of information on medical issues and international adoption issues in general. It also has many great links that will provide you with information on all aspects of your adoption journey. Some of the articles available: "Russian Reports and Diagnoses", "Common Medical Report Problems", "Translation and Terms". We highly recommend that you visit this site. www.russianadoption.org
International Adoption Medical Professionals:
After receiving a referral, it is critical that you have your medical report and video screened by a doctor that specializes in international adoption. This is only a partial list. You can ask your agency for other recommendations. The following offer pre-adoption evaluations and interpretation of referral medical information and videotapes. You may also call before travel to set up an account with one of the following doctors. Then you will be able to call them for a conference while in your child's country. Each doctor will have specific guidelines.
12. University of Minnesota International Adoption Clinic - 612-624-1164 or www.peds.umn.edu/iac/
*You may want to call before your referral arrives so that you can ask about their fees, procedure for sending referral information, and find out the length of time it takes for the evaluation to be completed.
America Academy of Pediatrics - Information on medical issues related to adopted children and the recommended tests upon arrival home - www.app.org/sections/adoption
Attachment Resources:
Attaching in Adoption by Deborah Gray. Great resource for all adoptive families.
Center for Family Connections (Dr. Joyce Pavao) - Offers phone consultations for parents who are dealing with adoption specific issues after arrival home. 617-547-0909 or www.kinnect.org
Local Pediatricians:
The following have been recommended by LEEAF families. They all have experience in dealing with adoptive families. When interviewing pediatricians, make sure that they will refer to the American Academy of Pediatrics, international adoption section. Here they will find the recommended screening tests for internationally adopted children and information on immunizations. It is important that your pediatrician have some understanding of orphanage life and its effects on children. Otherwise, they may miss things.
1. Northlake Pediatrics, Dr. Margie Strong (Covington) Dr. Strong is currently not accepting new patients, but if you tell her you are adopting, she will accept your child as her patient) - 985-893-3395
2. Ochsner Main Clinic, Dr. Bronfin (Jefferson) - 504-842-3900, www.ochsner.org
3. Ochsner (Mandeville), Dr. Spring Cloud - 985-727-2100
4. Dr Sherry Rowland (Slidell) - 985-646-1226
5. Napolean Pediatrics (New Orleans) - Dr. Sam Solis and Dr. George Stern have been recommended and have experience with adopted children - 504-897-4242.
6. Lakeside Children's Clinic (Metairie) - Dr. Zander - 504-883-3703
7. Dr. Ortenburg - Ped.Urologist (If you decide to have your son circumcised) - 504-887-1133
8. Dr. Scott Needle (MS) with Bay St. Louis Pediatrics - 228-467-2200
SchwabLearning.org - www.schwablearning.org - This is an very resourceful site! It is a parent's guide to helping kids with learning differences. A large variety of topics can be found such as AD/ADHD, auditory processing, behavioral issues, child development, emotional/social, homework, and much more. Useful and practical strategies.
*Scroll to the bottom of this page for Local pediatricians.
LEEAF is not an organization of professionals in any field, only parents with practical experience of raising children adopted internationally, specifically, Eastern Europe. We welcome you to use the information on the LEEAF website to determine what is best for your family. The information listed on the LEEAF website is by no means exhaustive of issues of internationally adoptive children; however, the information is meant as an example of some issues and examples of some of the available resources other families have used, and a possible means to deal with those issues or medical problems.
Center for Developmental Learning - 985-893-7777
Their mission - "We believe that all children want to learn and are capable of learning. CDL works with students, their families and teachers to find the most effective and successful ways for each individual child to make that happen." CDL offers practical information on learning and learning disorders. They test for a large variety of learning differences as well as testing for gifted.
We used CDL personally and they did an exceptional job. We used Glenda Thorn, clinical Psychologist and highly recommend her. To learn more, go to http://www.cdl.org.
