Glossary of Terms

Some waiting children have special educational, emotional or medical needs. This glossary of terms is designed to help families understand information they receive about children they would like to adopt.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)

ADD is a condition that affects a child's ability to concentrate. ADD impacts a child's school situation, since he finds it difficult to concentrate for long. Sometimes, though not always, a child will have ADD with hyperactivity (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder or ADHD). ADD is more common in boys than in girls.

Attachment Disorder

Attachment Disorder is defined as the inability of a child to form significant ties to other people because of past abuse and neglect. Some signs of attachment disorder include difficulty maintaining eye contact, difficulty telling the truth, unresponsiveness to affection and being affectionate with anyone regardless of the relationship or lack thereof.

Autism

Autism is a developmental disability that typically appears during the first three years of life. It is four times more prevalent in boys than in girls. Autism interferes with the normal development of the brain, and children typically have deficiencies in verbal and nonverbal communication, social interactions and leisure or play activities. The disorder makes it hard for them to communicate with others and relate to the outside world. They may exhibit any combination of the following behaviors in any degree of severity: repeated body movements, unusual responses to people, attachment to objects and resistance to changes in routines.

Behavior Disorder (BD)

Some children, because of past history or genetics (or both) need to cope with special emotional problems. To receive this diagnosis, a child must exhibit one or more of the following conditions over an extended period of time: an inability to learn that can't be explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors; an inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with classmates or teachers; inappropriate behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances; a general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or a tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. Sometimes, children with behavior disorders need support within the regular classroom or in special classrooms. Teachers trained in behavior disorders provide children with strict limits or structure, positive and/or negative reinforcement, and counseling or therapy outside the classroom.

Cerebral Palsy

Cerebral palsy is a disorder of muscle control that results from damage to part of the brain either before birth, around birth or early in life. The effects can range from mild to severe. In mild cerebral palsy, the child may be slightly clumsy when using an arm or leg, which may be barely noticeable. In severe cerebral palsy, multiple muscle groups are affected and the child may need assistance with walking and daily tasks. There are several types of cerebral palsy and many children have a combination of these movement patterns. Spastic cerebral palsy is the most common type in which the damaged part of the brain relays messages incorrectly to the muscles, causing stiffness and making movement difficult. Children with athetoid cerebral palsy have difficulty controlling their movements and often have very weak muscles or feel floppy when carried. In the least common type, ataxic cerebral palsy, children have unsteady movements and problems with balance.

Closed Adoption

An adoption in which birth and adoptive families have no contact and know only non-identifying information about each other.

Cognitive Disability

Children with cognitive disabilities attend special education classes. Formerly called "Trainable Mentally Handicapped" (TMH) and "Educable Mentally Handicapped" (EMH) classes, they are now called "special education classes for children with cognitive delays." Children with cognitive disabilities learn basic academic and social skills at a slower pace. Their achievement levels may vary.

Consents (Adoption)

A legally binding commitment resulting from an informed, deliberative process in which the consenting party signs a formal document. The consenting party may be the DCFS Guardianship Administrator (or designee) or the parents. Permission is given on behalf of the child for changes in the child's living arrangement or legal status, to provide a service, or to safeguard the child's rights.

Developmental Delays

Children with developmental delays can neither understand, nor do, the same things that most other children of the same age can do. Over time, with proper treatment and a stimulating environment, these children often are able to "catch up" to their peers.

Developmental Disability (DD)

A developmental disability is a severe, chronic condition that is attributable to a mental and/or physical impairment and is likely to continue indefinitely. As a result of the condition, a person will need support to assist with three or more of the following life activities: self-care, language, learning, mobility, self-direction, capacity for independent living and economic self-sufficiency. Persons with developmental disabilities often need a combination of special care, treatment and other services that are lifelong or of extended duration.

Down Syndrome

This condition is the result of a chromosome disorder that interferes with the intellectual and physical development of a child. The majority of children with Down Syndrome function in the mild to moderate range of mental retardation. However, some children are not mentally retarded at all; they may function in the borderline to low-average range. The child's developmental progress varies, but may be slow. Some common physical attributes include a small head, short and stocky body, poor muscle tone and small facial features. A caring and enriching home environment, early intervention and integrated education efforts will have a positive influence on the child's development.

Drug Exposed

Women who smoke, drink alcohol and/or take drugs during pregnancy put their children at risk of physical and developmental disabilities. While most children are not significantly affected by drug abuse, the effects depend on the type of drug and the frequency of use. Some drug-exposed children are born prematurely or have low birth weight, which carries some risks. Some children experience difficulties in early infancy with no symptoms beyond that. Others continue to experience behavior and learning difficulties. Early interventions, including assessment and follow-up treatment, can help ensure children are developmentally and physically on target by the time they reach school age.

Early Childhood Classroom

The curriculum in these programs targets children three to seven years old. They provide developmentally appropriate activities that focus on enhancing language development as well as each child's personal development.

Enuresis

Bedwetting. Enuresis can be a result of emotional or physical problems. Diurnal enuresis (more common in girls) occurs during the day. Nocturnal enuresis (more common in boys) occurs during the night.

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

FAS consists of a varying group of symptoms that may result from a mother's heavy use of alcohol during pregnancy. A common consequence is mental retardation because of impaired brain development. Other possible outcomes include low birth weight, small size, special facial characteristics and central nervous system problems. Children diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Effect (FAE), which is thought to be a milder form of FAS, have few if any physical indicators. In both FAS and FAE, studies show a positive relationship between degree of prenatal alcohol exposure and physical birth defects, growth, and brain and behavioral deficiencies.

Foster Parents

State-licensed adults who provide temporary homes for children in state custody whose birth parents are unable to care for them.

Guardianship

When parents are unable to adequately care for their children, a guardian can be appointed by a court to take care of the children, manage their property (if any) and advocate for their rights. A guardian may be a person or an institution such as a public or private child welfare agency. For a more detailed description of Guardianship, click here.

Head Start

This national program, funded by the federal government, provides preschool for children three and four years old from low-income families. Additional funding and 10% of the Head Start allotments are set aside to provide services for children with disabilities.

Hydrocephalus

A condition resulting in increased accumulation of fluid within the ventricles of the brain. It is often treated by surgically inserting a shunt (flexible tube) into the ventricular system of the brain to divert the flow of fluid into another region of the body, such as the abdominal cavity or a chamber of the heart, where it is absorbed.

Hyperactivity

Many children have a lot of energy, but hyperactive children maintain a very high level of activity. Medication may be used to manage this condition.

Impulsiveness

Children with poor impulse control need to learn how to think about the consequences of their actions. They may appear manipulative.

Interethnic Placement Act (IEPA)

A federal law passed in 1994, revised in 1996 and revised again in 1997, (formerly known as the Multiethnic Placement Act or MEPA) with three critical elements: 1) Delays in placing children who need adoptive or foster homes are not to be tolerated, nor are denials based on any prohibited or otherwise inappropriate consideration; 2) Discrimination is not to be tolerated, whether directed toward adults who wish to serve as foster or adoptive parents, children who need appropriate homes or communities that have heretofore been under utilized as a resource for placing children; and 3) The operative standard in foster care and adoptive placements has been and continues to be "the best interests of the child."

Nevertheless, any consideration of race, color or national origin in foster or adoptive placements must be made as an individualized determination of each child's needs and in light of a specific prospective adoptive or foster parent's capacity to care for that child. To reach these goals, IEPA prohibits child welfare agencies from making a placement decision or from denying a potential adoptive family solely on the basis of race, color or national origin. In addition, each state is required to recruit adoptive families that reflect the ethnic and racial composition of the children awaiting adoption.

Learning Disabilities (LD)

Some children find learning in regular classrooms difficult. Children with learning disabilities may be of average or above-average intelligence but may have difficulty learning, sorting and storing information. They may have visual perception problems that make it difficult to learn by reading directions. They may need to be given directions in a different format from that used by the rest of the class. Another learning disability involves auditory perception. These children learn best by seeing things demonstrated rather than having things told to them. LD classes help children achieve their potential.

Legal Risk Placement

Placement of a child for whom the process of termination of parental rights has not been completed or for whom the termination of parental rights is being contested. Because it is important to place a child in a permanent home, social workers and other professionals involved in adoption try to find a potential adoptive family before the entire legal process is complete. While it is possible that some legal complication could endanger an adoptive placement with a legal risk child, it is uncommon.

Legal Screening

This is a process to determine whether adoption is in the best interests of a child and whether there are sufficient grounds for termination of parental rights. In downstate Illinois, the legal screening committee (which may consist of a DCFS adoption team) makes the determination. In Cook County, the final decision is made by the State's Attorney legal screening committee, although a DCFS adoption team can present findings to the committee.

Microcephaly

Abnormal smallness of the head may be a physical indicator that the child was prenatally exposed to alcohol. A child with microcephaly may have seizure disorders or learning delays.

Open Adoption

An adoption involving some direct contact between birth and adoptive families, ranging from exchanging names to sending letters to in-person visits.

Oppositional Disorder

A pattern of consistent behavior, lasting at least six months, in which the child displays at least five of the following characteristics: loses temper; argues with adults; refuses to obey adult requests; deliberately attempts to annoy others; blames others for his/her mistakes; is touchy, easily annoyed, angry, resentful, spiteful or vindictive; and swears or uses obscene language.

Permanency Goal

The continuous living arrangement that DCFS deems desirable for (and available to) the child. A permanent legal status is usually a component of the permanency goal. The means for attaining a permanency goal, as well as the goal itself, can change as the child's developmental and emotional needs change or as the child's (and family's) circumstances change.

Permanency Hearing

A legal proceeding to determine the permanency goal for the child. At this hearing the judge can either accept DCFS's recommended permanency goal or revise it in line with additional evidence.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Persons with this syndrome re-experience traumatic events, often coupled with a decreased response or avoidance of current events. A child may experience sleeping problems, nightmares, intrusive thoughts and difficulty concentrating.

Pre-Kindergarten

A statewide program for children three and four years old, who are at risk for academic failure. They are assessed on the basis of researched risk factors including (but not limited to) low birth weight, prenatal exposure to drugs and being born to a mother younger than 15 or older than 50.

Residential Treatment

Some children require specialized therapeutic treatment, offered in a residential setting, for emotional and/or behavioral difficulties. Residential treatment may last several months or up to a year, depending on individual needs. It generally includes a school component.

Sickle Cell Anemia

Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary, chronic form of anemia in which abnormally shaped red blood cells are present. The frequency of the gene that causes this disease is high in Mediterranean and African populations. A child with sickle cell anemia will experience severe pain crises requiring hospitalization from as infrequently as once a year to as often as every six weeks. Parents will need to work with the child's school to ensure he can make up missed schoolwork. Sickle Cell Trait means the child is carrying the recessive gene, but does not have the disease.

Socially Delayed

Some children were raised in an environment where they were not exposed to some social skills and did not learn appropriate ways of relating to others. These children may require extra time in a new environment to learn these skills.

Subsidized Guardianship

This is a new permanency goal for children who are unable to be returned to their birth parents and for whom, after an exhaustive search for a permanent home, adoption is not a viable option. With subsidized guardianship, DCFS transfers legal responsibility to the caregiver and provides a cash grant and a medical card to the family to help meet the child's expenses.

Termination of Parental Rights (TPR)

A legal action of the court that relieves the birth parents of a child of all parental responsibility and deprives them of all legal rights to the child.

Tourette's Syndrome

Tourette's syndrome is a disorder in which a child displays motor tics and possible vocal tics. A tic is an involuntary, sudden, rapid, recurrent movement or vocalization. Common motor tics are eye-blinking, neck-jerking, shoulder shrugging and facial grimacing. Common vocal tics are coughing, throat clearing, grunting, sniffing, snorting and barking.

Ungraded Classroom

These are special education programs. Children age three to five attend a non-categorical program. The classroom may contain children with any disability - emotional, behavioral, cognitive - because the teacher's Early Childhood certification covers all disabilities. Children over the age of five attend a cross-categorical program. Their instructors are certified to teach children with specific disabilities. The classrooms are divided into primary, intermediate and upper levels. Children with different disabilities may attend the same classroom but are usually grouped by ability level.

We would like to acknowledge the Special Needs Adoption Network of Wisconsin, the Pennsylvania Adoption Exchange and the Minnesota Adoption Resource Network. Their wonderful publications, the Chicago Board of Education's Special Education procedural manual and staff, and the Family Village website were sources for many definitions of the medical, emotional and psychological conditions mentioned above.