ABSTRACT
More than 40,000 children per year cross borders to enter new families, usually traveling from lower to higher income countries (U.S. Department of State, 2011c). These children arrive in their new adoptive countries with a variety of medical, growth, and developmental issues. Many of these issues relate to the conditions in which the children reside prior to adoptive placement. Although some children receive the emotional and physical benefits of loving foster care prior to adoption, most reside in orphanages where nurturing care and material resources are usually limited. In this chapter, the general health status-including growth, infectious diseases, and other medical issues-of internationally adopted children at arrival will be reviewed. Developmental and emotional issues are described in Chapters 13, 15, and 16.
