Life has been busy and I have not been able to keep up with a Ds Awareness post each day. Maybe since I have been working on this adoption post for a few days now, it will count as two :)
While our family feels incredibly blessed and enhanced by Erin's extra 21st chromosome, other families, for whatever reason, feel overwhelmed when given the diagnosis. There are a number of factors, some real and some perceived, that contribute to that overwhelming feeling. Many parents (up to 90%) feel so overwhelmed before the birth of their son or daughter with Ds that they decide on abortion.
I want to draw attention to the adoption option for children with Ds. The Down Syndrome Association of Greater Cincinnati has a
National Down Syndrome Adoption Network which handles many domestic adoptions for children with Ds. They have a wonderful program, serving both birth parents who choose not to parent their child, and adopting parents. Because of the high abortion rate of babies with Ds in our country, the demand to adopt a child with Ds is quite high. Last I heard, there is a waiting list of about 200 families. My friend Jill recently adopted a four year old boy with Ds who, I believe, was networked through this organization (Jill if you're reading this, correct me if I'm wrong :) Another friend,
Ruthann, was blessed with the adoption of Micah, not through the NDSAN, but with another agency right here in NE Wisconsin. Many people just do not realize that there are plenty of families who are waiting to adopt a child with Ds in this country. In fact, since Erin's birth, I have noticed a trend regarding Ds adoptions. Many families who have a biological child who happens to have Ds, later (after the shock wears off), seek to add to their family by adopting another child with Ds.
Because of this wait-time in our own country, many families seeking to adopt a child with Ds turn to international adoption, where the situation is much different. Many counties in Eastern Europe, and other poorer countries around the world who lack the technological advancements of prenatal testing, have a more realistic representation of Down syndrome birth rates (fewer terminations). This, coupled with fewer resources and a lingering stigma associated with parenting children with special needs, results in more children than there are families willing to adopt. They have orphanages in these countries.
Enter Reece's Rainbow! Reece's Rainbow in an international Down syndrome orphan ministry. They offer adoption grants, advocate for orphaned children, support the birth families and walk adopting families through the process of international adoption. They are doing incredible work. I am especially excited about their new program called
Connecting the Rainbow. The long-term goal of Connecting the Rainbow is to eliminate the need for Reece’s Rainbow by serving as a catalyst for social change abroad. These families who have children with special needs need resources and RR is coming to the rescue. My prayer is that CTR they be able to provide true resources, support and education to these families before the culture of death grows strong with seek-and-distroy prenatal testing, which may only raise their termination rates to the levels we have here in our own country. CTR is doing very important work! Please pray for their efforts.
Here are just a few of my friends who have adopted a child (or children) with Ds through RR; you may enjoy reading their stories on their blogs:
Meredith,
Shelley Ellen,
Bethany,
McKenna,
Brigitte. I have other friends who are in the process of adopting, working with RR right now. Adoption is a beautiful option!
Finally, I'll let Meredith and Micheal Cornish explain their adoption journey in their own words. They have three biological children (one with Ds) and three adopted children (all with Ds). God willing, they will be adding Monroe, and possible Aleksa, to their family very soon.
