Sydney Seaver

As an ordinary woman, I have never used the word phenomenal to describe another woman until now. There is enough information on her to fill an encyclopedia. Some call her a Guardian Angel; some call her a Modern Day Medicine Woman. She is Jane Aronson, renowned pediatrician who gained worldwide attention when she treated Angelina Jolie's daughter, Zahara, for a life-threatening bacterial infection shortly after she arrived from Ethiopia. She has spent 20 years "travelling to orphanages all over the world, to see the conditions that these kids grow up in. So I know when they arrive here how hurt, sad and empty and how yearning they are to love. She has improved the lives of 20,000 children and she has learned to tell them "see you soon in six languages; "I never say goodbye. This woman makes me cry. Here are her credentials: She is part of a national network of adoption medicine specialists for the American Academy of Pediatrics, Section for Adoption and Foster Care. She evaluates children

You knew your baby would cry. But did you know how frustrating crying can become? What do you do when you have tried everything you could think of to comfort him and nothing worked? A crying baby can be frustrating but no one thinks they will shake their infant. Research confirms what Marilyn Barr, Founder and Executive Director of the National Center on Shaken Baby Syndrome, says, “Frustration with a baby’s crying is the number one trigger for shaking, and the stress of handling a crying baby can seem overwhelming.” Hospitals and organizations nationwide are responding by educating parents about the period of “purple” crying, a stage when normal, perfectly healthy babies can cry for five hours a day or more. Babies sometimes need to cry even when nothing is wrong since crying is the only way they have to tell you if they are hungry, sad, or uncomfortable. Some parents will automatically interpret the sound of the cry and know what to do. But they, too, can be overwhelmed during a sleepless

As a part of the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, the federal government helps support state and local agencies to provide early intervention services to children with disabilities and developmental delays. Early intervention services serve children from birth to age three and sometimes even up to five years of age, depending on the state. Children receiving early intervention services often have conditions including low birth weight, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, expressive language delays, visual impairment, hearing impairment, autism, or other developmental concerns. Comprehensive Individualized Family Service Plans are developed to provide therapeutic services designed to meet the child's needs. Research shows that the younger a child is when service begins, the better the outcome. Imua Family Services is the non-profit organization that provides early intervention services to our local community here on Maui. They first operated as the Maui branch of the Hawaii Chapter

In the first half of the 20th century proponents of the Eugenics movement influenced nearly thirty state legislatures to pass a law allowing the involuntary sterilization of people with developmental, mental, sensory and physical disabilities.i This legislative trend was based on the belief that these and other "socially inadequate populations, ii would produce offspring that would be burdensome to society. The result of this policy was the forced sterilization of 60,000 American citizens, some as young as ten years old. Add to this the forced institutionalization of millions of disabled people and you see that parenting with a disability was a rare opportunity. However, by the 1970's most sterilization laws were struck down on procedural grounds and rules were adopted that prohibited sterilization by institutions receiving federal funding. Moreover, the de-institutionalization movement drastically increased the number of people with disabilities living in communities. In the 1980's

Handicapped and crippled used to be terms for the disabled and now "Special Needs has become an umbrella underneath which a staggering array of diagnoses can be placed. Children with special needs may have mild learning disabilities or profound mental retardation; food allergies or terminal illnesses; developmental delays or serious psychiatric problems. (Terry Mauro, About.com) In almost every community in the United States there are parent support groups and other community organizations directly involved in providing services to families with the aim of achieving full inclusion in the social and educational life of the community for special needs children. Easter Seals www.easterseals.com is the leading non-profit provider of services for individuals with autism, developmental disabilities, physical and mental disabilities and other special needs. It was founded in 1919 in Ohio by Edgar "Daddy Allen, a man who saw that children with disabilities were often hidden from public view.

Is the practice of Babywearing catching up with history? Is it only something native peoples do? How many parents do you see or know who wear their babies in carriers? Or is it something that celebrities like Madonna, Angelina and Brad, Gwen Stefani, and Julia Roberts are popularizing? The answer to the first question is yes, Babywearing is experiencing a vigorous renaissance. And yes, every country in the world has a traditional baby carrier designed to meet their particular needs such as type of work, climate, and wearing positions: Mexico, the Rebozo; Peru, the Manta; Guatemala, the Parraje; Alaska, the Amauti; Papua New Guinea, the Bilum; Indonesia; a Selendang; Asia, Mei-tai (China) and Onbuhimo (Japan)ⁱ. All mothers, African, Welsh, Ethiopian, Maori and European have carriers of their own designs. A beautiful book about this is: "A Ride on Mother's Back, A Day of Baby Carrying Around the World by Emery and Durga Bernhard, Harcourt, Inc.