DOWN SYNDROME AWARENESS MONTH

October is Down Syndrome Awareness Month. 
NATIONAL DOWN SYNDROME SOCIETY

Our family would like to use this event as an opportunity to encourage families to consider adopting a child with Down syndrome.  Children with Down syndrome are available for adoption both domestically and internationally. 

We have adopted two children with Down syndrome, one from the US and one from another country.  

This blog tells the story of both of our adoptions, and shares the huge blessings involved with having children with DS in your family!

Sadly the United States has an 80-90% abortion rate for babies that are diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome.  For some of these parents facing this diagnosis, perhaps they would consider choosing life and placing their child for adoption if they knew there were families excited to adopt a child with DS.  I believe adoption is key to supporting the right to life in this country.  We need to be there to support and help birth parents in whatever way we can. 

Internationally, many orphans with Down syndrome face a very bleak future.   In many eastern European countries, where we adopted from, many kiddos with DS are left at birth because they have Down syndrome.  They spend their first 5 years in an orphanage, without the love and support of a family.  Then these children are often transferred to a mental institution at the age of 5 where they will spend the rest of their lives.  We as Christian families need to step up and protect these precious children from this horrible fate. 

So if adoption has not been on your family's radar, please prayerfully consider it.

If anyone is interested in finding out about this incredible adventure, we would love to talk with you.  Please contact us! 

Here are some resources that have been useful and important to us.

Reece's Rainbow- this is a website that helps find families for orphans with Down syndrome and other special needs.  This is where we first found out about our latest addition to our family.

REECE'S RAINBOW

Bethany Christian Services- this is the adoption agency we used for our domestic adoption:

BETHANY CHRISTIAN SERVICES

Open Door Adoption- this is the adoption agency we used for our international adoption:

OPEN DOOR ADOPTION

National Down Syndrome Adoption Network- this website find families for US children with DS whose birth families are not able to parent them.  We did not use this website for our domestic adoption, but we did find it helped educate and make us more aware of the need to support birth parents facing the diagnosis of DS.

NATIONAL DOWN SYNDROME ADOPTION NETWORK

Orphan Justice: How to Care for Orphans Beyond Adopting by Johnny Carr- this book really moved our hearts to the plight of orphans internationally.  It showed us that while donating money to the cause is great, there are some of us that could do even more than that and become a family for one of these orphans.  Very life changing read…

ORPHAN JUSTICE