Mongolian Spots
Your new daughter from China may have come to you with dark blue to black patches of skin that appeared to be bruises. As you may now know, these are Mongolian spots and quite common in Asian children as well as those of African American, Native American and Hispanic descent.
Mongolian spots can be dark or light and often appear on the lower back, on the buttocks and sometimes on the ankles and wrists. They often fade as the child grows.
A caseworker at one social agency says that it's important that both your child's doctor and the caseworker who completes your postplacement study record information on the child's Mongolian spots into their records. "We know of many families in our area who have had problems with the children' services division because many well-meaning people report this as abuse," she says. "Even the social worker who did our first adoption homestudy was reported by her church nursery worker because her Korean child had a huge spot."
One pediatrician who examined a Chinese baby the day after she arrived home suggested that the family take pictures of all her spots to put in her medical folder. "With the pictures in her file we would always have a place to turn because they are documented in writing and in pictures," the mom reports. "You can never be too sure or take for granted that everyone will know what they are."
Contributed by Fred Bazzoli.