Recently our adoption agency asked for adoptive families that went through the special needs process to share their story in an effort to try and educate families across America about Special Needs Adoption. The hope is for families to consider Special Needs adoptions as the landscape in Chinese adoption is changing and more children with minor correctable special needs are available. I took this opportunity to tell our story. It was published on Holt's blog and website. Here it is.

Special Needs? Or just Special?

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After coming home from China with their adopted daughter, Madelyn, the Portie family quickly began to realize that often, “special needs” just means “special.”

by Melissa Portie

We had prayed about adoption for a number of years before pursuing it.

My husband and I had been married 15+ years and had two older biological children entering their teenage years. When we got serious about adoption and requested the application to begin the process, we initially planned to pursue the traditional path to a healthy, baby girl. Quickly, we realized that the waiting time was not a good fit for our family. After considering our options, we decided that the special needs option was right for us. After all, none of us are perfect and we all, at some time or another, have physical and medical imperfections.

We were quickly matched with a beautiful, 18-month-old little girl who had a cleft lip and palate that had been surgically closed in the earlier months of her life. We accepted the referral and then began the paper chase to travel.

Although a little nervous at first at how I would deal with our new daughter’s needs, those fears were quickly sidelined after meeting our sweet angel – Madelyn Qui Ying Portie (Maddie for short). Her physical state was encouraging. Obviously, she had been well cared for, and just a small remnant of what was a cleft lip remained.

After just a few hours, we realized how bright, loving and charismatic our child was.

We instantly could see why GOD had matched our family with Madelyn – it was a perfect fit from day one. As weeks turned into months after arriving home with Madelyn, our joy increased each day as we witnessed our beautiful and healthy daughter come into her own. Special needs was a label that was given to her and I came to agree that she was indeed “special,” but not in a disabling sort of way. Shortly upon returning home and visiting with both our local physician and our cleft lip and palate team at Texas Children’s Hospital, we were told that Madelyn is extremely healthy and has proven to need very little medical follow-up associated with her cleft lip and palate.

Yes, she will need surgery in the future to cosmetically repair her nose and eventually, she will also need braces – but what teenage child doesn’t need braces these days? These are such small issues compared to the large impact that she has had on our lives.

Maddie is 4 now and is bright and intelligent beyond her years. She attends a private Episcopal school and will be going to PK4 in the fall. I hope those teachers are ready for our fireball.

Looking back on our choice to adopt a “special needs” child, I can honestly say that it was one of the best decisions we ever made and if we had to do it all again – we so would. AND we have again. This summer, we will be traveling back to China to bring home Mia Catherine, a 13-month-old little girl with cleft lip and cleft palate. We can’t wait!!!!