Meridian native heads clinic that helps adoptive parents
By Staff
HELPING CHILDREN Dr. Jennifer Nobles Chambers, center, holds two children from Russia Gavrie Hyche, left, and Katerina Hyche after seeing the children in her office at the University of Alabama International Adoption Clinic. Submitted photo
By Penny Randall / staff writer
Nov. 24, 2002
As a pediatrician, Dr. Jennifer Nobles Chambers sees hundreds of children a year.
But Chambers, a Meridian native, doesn't treat children with head colds or ear infections. She heads the University of Alabama International Adoption Clinic in Birmingham, helping families with children from foreign countries.
Chambers, 32, graduated as valedictorian of Meridian High School in 1988. She earned her medical and master's degrees from Tulane University. She got interested in helping children from developing counties after she visited an orphanage in Bolivia.
Her job begins
As head of the adoption clinic, Chambers' job starts when families learn they are cleared for a foreign adoption.
The international adoption clinic mainly treats children from China and Russia. The clinic also works with children from Ecuador, Vietnam, Bulgaria, Ethiopia and Haiti.
The children live all across the South including Mississippi.
Once the adopted child arrives in the United States, the next step is helping the families make the transition.
The international adoption clinic is also available to assist the parents while they travel overseas. Chambers and the parents communicate by phone and e-mail.
The first step
When the adopted child arrives in the country, the parents take them to the clinic as soon as possible. The child is assessed medically, developmentally and emotionally.
The child then returns to the clinic for check ups within the next three to six months and then again on a yearly basis. After the first check up, Chambers begins to work with the child's family doctor.
Chambers said the best part of her job is the relationship she establishes with the child's family.
TO FIND OUT MORE
Contact Dr. Jennifer Nobles Chambers at (205) 939-6974 or e-mail her at adoption@peds.uab.edu/