When the Box Doesn’t Fit: Assisting the Missionary Family That

Has Children With Special Needs

Midwest Conference on Missionary CareFebruary 21, 2015

Heather Davediuk Gingrich, Ph.D.

Denver Seminary

What do We Mean by Special Needs?

Our Family Situation Both of our sons are adopted and mixed

race (Canadian black Jamaican and Caucasian)

One son diagnosed with ADHD while on the field and also required speech therapy

Other son was sexually abused (but we didn’t find out until many years later)

Suspected missed ADHD diagnosis of 2nd son

Impact of mixed race adoption

Adoption in the Philippines happens almost exclusively within extended families

Lighter skin tone valued and darker skin tone devalued

Prejudice Definite negative bias from Filipinos on both

counts• “Are they yours?”• “I admire what you’ve done so much”• “Oh, they got so black at the beach! Why did you let

them get so black?• Touching curly hair

Even greater prejudice would have been noticeable if our sons had been physically or mentally handicapped

Q. How will Nationals React to the Child with Special

Needs?

ADHD Diagnosis

Good News! Visiting modular professor, a clinical

psychologist was able to assess Brandon and make the ADHD diagnosis

Faith Academy had special education through Middle School

A pediatrician friend filled prescriptions for ADHD medication and modular professors carried it in their luggage

Supportive mission friends on field

Bad News!

Parenting was extremely stressful for many years

Mission did not follow up on the high scores for parenting distress indicated on the Marital Satisfaction Inventory

No special education after Middle School TERRIBLE experience with visiting

psychologist

Q. How will medical needs be met?

Availability of Specialists? Medication? Quality of hospitals? What about an emergencies?

Speech Therapy No American or Canadian speech therapists

in metro Manila A Filipino English accent wouldn’t have

worked Solution: Speech therapy on two

consecutive home assignments (3 months each, 2 years apart) with me working daily with Brandon on the field

Q. How will the child with special needs be educated?

Educational Considerations A Filipino school would not have been an option

because of behavioral expectations (in addition to very different curriculum)

Homeschooling was tried on mini-home assignments and would have been disastrous!• i.e., homeschooling is not always the answer

Faith Academy would no longer have been a viable option once our ADHD son reached high school.• Impacting timeline for leaving the field

Situations We COULD have Faced While on the Field

Migraine headaches• Son was nonfunctional for two years• We exhausted almost all medical options

(neurologists, spinal specialists, chiropractors, naturopaths, acupuncturists)

• What would we have done on the field? Discovery of sexual abuse

Other Experiences?

How Can the Missionary Care Provider Assist?

Deployment considerations• Which field/which assignment is appropriate?• Timing of deployment

Assistance on the field• Listen carefully – What does the family need?• What kind of parenting stress is the couple under? • What kind of emotional support do parents have?• In what ways are siblings impacted?

Assistance (Cont’d) Determine which resources are available on

the field• Informal vs formal• Within the mission vs outside the mission• Local vs regional

What is available from home• Flying an expert in from home country• Sending family home for intenstive treatment• Using home assignments• Leaving field prematurely

Hogstrom, K. E., & Gingrich, H. D. (2014). Experiences and utilization of member care in an international missionary sample. Journal of Psychology & Christianity, 33, 240-253.