April 19, 2009 10:36 AM
Babies with Down syndrome up for adoption
When our eighth child Jonny was born in 1992 with Down syndrome, my first thought was, "God must love me so much!" I can't explain why somehow I knew that God had provided our family with the opportunity of a lifetime. As Jonny's extra chromosome appears in every cell of his body, I felt that loving response in every cell of mine.
As I mentioned this morning in Maddy's Sweet Sixteen!, Jonny had a baby sister a year later. And between 1995 and 2000, we somehow ended up adoption three more baby boys with Down syndrome - bringing our family to an even dozen (you can read the details in A Tale of Four Adoptions. At left, you can see Jonny with his three younger brothers in 2006.
Did you know there are actually many families waiting to adopt babies with Down syndrome? While currently 90% of babies diagnosed prenatally with DS are aborted, the word is getting out that there is an alternative - and now many lives are being saved as the Internet has made it easy for us to network and find each other.
In 1995, we didn't have the Internet. All I had was a phone number for Robin Steele, who somehow had become a hub of information. Checking in with her by phone on May 29, 1995, I learned of a baby who'd been born in San Diego the day before and signed over to the state of California by his overwhelmed parents. Though it took us two months to wrest him from the foster care system, we have been blessed ever since to have Jesse in our lives. The part Robin played was small - but it had enormous impact on all our lives.
Robin is still in the matchmaking business - see her latest email:
I have been contacted by at least 12 birth famililes or professionals representing birth parents (genetics counselors, hospital social workers, etc.) in the last month of so. These are often families in the beginning stages of their pregnancy and they are gathering information on Down syndrome and on their options. While many (hopefully most!) of these families will choose to parent their child, some will want to make an adoption plan.I would be grateful for any information you can share with families who may want to adopt a child with DS. We are ALWAYS looking for families so that we will ALWAYS have more families available than we have children who need families! Thanks so much for your help! You can pass on our website (www.dsagc.com) or my email address. We also have an 800 #which is 888-796-5504.
Robin
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Robin Steele, Adoption Coordinator Down Syndrome Assoc. of Greater Cincinnati
Posted in Adoption, Down syndrome | Permalink
Comments
I just dropped in on your site through a google search (taking a break during my three hour Thursday writing time). I'm a homeschooling mom of eleven and my three year old son has ds. I'm also the co-guardian of my 54 year aunt with ds. Just wanted to let you know I've enjoyed reading your posts.
Posted by: Cindy | April 30, 2009 1:12 PM
