Challenge Day 5

I'm blogging everyday for the 31 for 21 challenge here this year. I want to raise awareness for adoption as well as Down Syndrome. In my opinion, the two go together like peas and carrots!

It breaks my heart that in many countries children with Down Syndrome are rejected by their families. I hurts me even more because I already have a child with DS and I know firsthand what a fantastic kid he is! When I found out that Zhen's mother was a nurse I was truly baffled. Surely a nurse would know about DS, right?

Wrong.

The crazy thing is this: (please don't throw anything at me) after living in Eastern Europe as one of the regular people, I can sort of understand why a mom might walk away. Life is particularly hard there. It's brutal in a way that you can't understand unless you've been there. Theo's birth mom ran away from the hospital. She split.

You don't reject your only baby unless the pressure is intense. You don't sign away your rights forever on a whim. I know of women who have kept their disabled children. Often their husband will abandon them. Their families tell them they are being punished for their sins. If you hear this often enough you may start to believe it.

Things are changing, slowly. Adopting families are touching the lives of orphanage directors, social workers, and judges. Organizations like Connecting the Rainbow and Downsed are having a positive impact. There is just a lot of reasons to be encouraged.

In the meantime, children with Down Syndrome are languishing in orphanages around the world. They'll never reach their potential without the love and attention of a family, decent nutrition and medical care.

In the United States the situation is not much better. Here upwards of 90% of children with DS are aborted. It breaks my heart that in our country children with Down Syndrome are rejected by their families. I hurts me even more because I already have a child with DS and I know firsthand what a fantastic kid he is! hmmmm...