June 9, 2008 10:56 AM
Adopting children with Down syndrome
Since our family has adopted children with Down syndrome, I'm often asked how other interested families can begin the process themselves.
It's like any other adoption in terms of enlisting the help of an agency and getting a home study. Catholic Charities helped us with two of our adoptions - in California they waive charges for children with special needs or other difficult-to-place children (older or with siblings). I believe that is also the case with state agencies.
There are organizations that specialize in matching children with Down syndrome to welcoming families. For international adoptions, visit Reece's Rainbow.
For domestic adoptions, contact Robin Steele at the Adoption Awareness Program. While Catholic Charities was responsible for our home studies, Robin is the hub of a network of people and often finds out within hours of birth children with Down syndrome who will be up for adoption. I found out about Jesse - our first adopted child - through Robin the day after he was born. We were almost finished with our home study and you can believe we finished it very quickly :) Unfortunately, since Jesse's parents gave him up to the state of California, it took two months for us to be approved to bring him home. In the meantime, he was in short term foster care.
Jesse's 13 now - and was worth every day we waited!
Here's the story of another family with a daughter with Down syndrome who recently adopted another:
Family's joy keeps growing
Rob and Wendy Saunders of Yorktown have four children, two of whom have Down syndrome.By SHANNON HUMPHREY, May 30, 2008
When Wendy and Rob Saunders saw Macey, 3, for the first time, they knew that she was their daughter. Parents of three children already, the Saunders decided to adopt Macey through Reece's Rainbow, an international orphan ministry that helps locate children with Down syndrome who are available for adoption."When we arrived at the orphanage in Ukraine to start the adoption process, we were amazed by what we saw," Rob said. "The children were playing outside in the dirt. All they had on was a hat and underwear. It was so different from what we were used to seeing."
The adoption process began in March 2007 and was over by July, with Wendy and Rob returning home with Macey on Aug. 17. The Saunders' youngest child, 4-year-old Carley, who also has Down syndrome, was one of the most excited with the new addition to the family.
"When we got back home, Carley said to us, 'Thank you for my sister, I love my sister.' She was so excited," Wendy said.
Read the rest of the Saunders family's story here or at Wendy's blog - The Saunders Gang.
Posted in Adoption, Down syndrome | Permalink
Comments
Barbara,
I contacted Robin several years ago when my husband and I were looking into DS adoption. My husband is from Cinncinnati (where Robin is affiliated with Down Syndrome Assoc. of Cinn.) She was so friendly, and shared her own stories of DS adoption with me. We have 1 bio son, and a daughter with special needs adopted through the foster care system. We are now the foster to adopt parents to my daughter's bio brother and sister (placed with us as infants, now 18 & 6 months.) We hope to finalize their adoptions this year. Thank you for letting the public know how amazing it is to parent a child with special needs. We are blessed!!
Posted by: Karen | June 9, 2008 11:55 AM
Great to see this posted! We have 2 angels home from Reece's Rainbow and one with Ds by birth (as well as one w/o Ds too!)
Thank you for sharing that article, Wendy is a wonderful mom and her children are just beautiful too!
Posted by: Meredith | June 10, 2008 7:40 PM
Barb, I just wanted to thank you for sharing the Reece's Rainbow Down Syndrome Adoption Ministry with your readers. www.reecesrainbow.com We have over 150 children waiting for their forever families, many of whom have large adotion grants available. We have found families for 70+ children with DS in only 2 years, and 25 other children with other special needs. Even if folks are not in a financial position to adopt, we encourage everyone to visit the site and share even a small gift of sponsorship with a waiting child, so another family can afford to save them from mental institutions. Any interested families can visit our website or write to me off blog at bamaroberts@comcast.net Thank you again!!---Andrea Roberts, Reece's Rainbow
Posted by: Andrea Roberts | June 10, 2008 7:43 PM
Greetings,
Are there ever older children for adoption.
Our fourth son, Isaac is eleven now and we would love to adopt a child a little younger then him.
Thanks, Jeanie
Posted by: Jeanie | July 6, 2008 1:09 AM
I feel so privileged that you shared my story. I am glad that you shared RR and hope that other families find the blessing that we did!! You should however warn your readers that I by no means am writer!! :-)
Wendy
Posted by: Wendy | August 26, 2008 12:02 AM
