Adoption and ADHD
Back in 2015, when Lisa Esposito from US News & World Report, contacted me out of the blue for help in writing an article about adoptees and their lack of medical history, I was excited that somebody in the media world cared about this issue. However, being fortunate to have good health, I didn’t have any stories to share with her personally. So, I acted as a connector for her in the community. I recalled a few of the stories I had heard from adoptees who had life threatening medical issues and either could have been helped or were helped by speaking with birth family members to get important medical history. Eight years later, I now have something to share. It is a late Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) diagnosis. It is common for parents to be diagnosed shortly after one of their kids are diagnosed because ADHD is highly genetic. If a parent did not pass it on, it is very likely that a grandparent did. Our daughter took an on-line self-assessment and kept t