Family Medical History for Adopted Children

Significance

• The knowledge of the family medical history of your adopted child can determine how your child should be treated by a doctor. Health care professionals can examine a family medical history for patterns of illness and disease to see if the individual has an increased risk for a specific medical condition. Certain disorders, such as cystic fibrosis and sickle cell anemia, are genetic, so ascertaining that this condition does run in your adopted child's birth family will prepare both you and your doctor for the possibility of its occurrence.

Function

• According to the American Medical Association, "Gathering a complete and accurate family medical history is becoming more important as genetic medicine explains more diseases." Family medical history, especially knowledge of possible allergic reactions, can be useful in emergency medical situations. Obtaining your adopted child's family medical history is easiest to accomplish at the time of the adoption, so be sure to ask about this topic during this process. The adoption agency will generally have the medical records of the birth parents, especially the mother, on file, so if you did not receive this information at the time of the adoption, you can call the agency to request these records.

Features

• Specific information that you should request when asking for your adopted child's family medical history include a synopsis of the age, genetic origins and health of the birth parents and the details of the child's birth, including measurements, gestational age, pregnancy and labor complications and the results of lab tests taken during pregnancy, such as a metabolic screening like PKU. If the child is older, ask about immunization and hospitalization records, as well as a history of medications taken by the child. Knowing the details of the child's previous care is another relevant aspect of your child's medical history.

Considerations

• One aspect to remember when retrieving your adopted child's family medical history is the birth parents are most likely still too young to know exactly what medical problems they may face in their older years. If there is evidence that a child may show indicators of an inherited syndrome, you may want to ask about genetic evaluation. However, according to Baby Center, "genetics testing to determine risk of adult onset diseases such as Huntington's chorea or breast cancer is not appropriate merely for the purpose of an adoption evaluation."

Benefits

• The Mayo Clinic gives several benefits to knowing your adopted child's family medical history. Doctors can recommend certain diet and lifestyle suggestions to reduce any risk of a possible known disease. Which diagnostic tests are needed as well as how often these tests should be administered can be determined from the knowledge of family medical history. A medical condition that may have not even been considered could be identified if the family medical history is known by your child's doctor.