About Our Services
What can we expect from a consultation with your clinic?
First, our coordinators Cyndi and Heather will help gather all available pre-adoptive materials on your referral. They both have years of experience with our clinic, and are very knowledgeable about adoption and agency issues.
The initial consultation will be scheduled with Dr. Bledsoe or Dr. Davies within 2-4 days of your initial phone call. After prereviewing available medical records, growth data, and photos/video, our doctors typically provide a 30-45 minute phone discussion that takes you in detail through the available information and your concerns.
Our consultation will focus on notable growth trends, explanations of foreign medical diagnoses with opinions on which are more or less worrisome, and assessment of developmental progress. We will also analyze photos and video for features of FAS or other syndromes, interaction with caregivers, and signs of developmental issues. We're happy to answer any questions you have about your referral, travel issues, or the post-adoption adjustment period.
Unfortunately, we lack a crystal ball, but we will provide a rough overall risk assessment of future medical or developmental special needs, based on our years of experience evaluating similar referrals and following adoptees in our pediatric clinic.
We have unique expertise on these issues from providing over 900 pre-adoption consultations per year, following children in our primary care pediatric practice where over half of our patients are adoptees, and working as staff pediatricians at the UW Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Clinic. As academic pediatricians on staff at the University of Washington Medical Center and Children's Hospital in Seattle, we have close ties to other pediatric specialties, which can be invaluable when evaluating children with identified special needs.
We will then send you a "wishlist" of follow-up questions that you can forward to your agency and/or bring with you when you travel. We are happy to review any follow-up information, and typically respond by email to updates, unless there are more concerning or complicated issues better discussed with a phone call.
On call support during your travels by email or phone is included with our consultation. This has been invaluable for families faced with surprise medical or developmental concerns or illness during travel. If there have been concerns about FAS facial features we are often able to analyze your emailed photographs using specialized FAS facial analysis software.
We also provide prescriptions for travel that include a broad-spectrum antibiotic, eye ointment, medication for impetigo and other skin infections, scabies treatment, multivitamins with iron, and sterile needles/syringes.
Finally, we're happy to help find an adoption-savvy pediatrician in your area, or help guide the post-adoption workup if you do not live near an adoption specialist. If you are interested in a post-placement evaluation with us, you can call 206-598-3000 for post-adoption scheduling, ideally as soon as you have your travel plans (those appointments fill well in advance).
How do we schedule a consultation?
If you are a new patient seeking a pre-adoption appointment now, please CALL to schedule a time for your consultation. You may forward your materials by email, fax or shipment, but be sure to call as well. We will need copies of all visual and written materials about the child provided by your agency (medical record, pictures, videos).
The number for pre-adoption services is (206) 598-3006. We schedule new families in the order of their call or voice message. If you reach voice mail, please leave a message and we will call you back as soon as possible.
Consultation appointments are usually scheduled 2-4 days after your call and our fees range from $400-$500, depending on the child's country of origin. We will quote you an exact fee when you call. The services include the initial consultation by phone, follow-up consultation (on the same child) as needed, on call support during your travels, and prescriptions for the child's trip home.
If you are traveling "blind" to select a child overseas and cannot consult before traveling, the fees are higher to consult from overseas. Please email or call and we will send you information about this service.