[tessmo]

Recently I have had the opportunity to meet a young child with Down syndrome (DS) currently in foster care. No, he is not up for adoption yet, but his situation did get me thinking. As a special educator and mother of a a son with DS, I had heard that a list existed of families who are interested in adopting a child with DS. Although a national list does not exist, an operator at the National Down Syndrome Congress informed me that there are private agencies that do specialize in adoption of children with special needs and more specifically DS. I encourage anyone thinking along these lines to please contact the National Down Syndrome Congress. They are a well established organization and can provide a multitude of valuabel information. www.ndsccenter.org

P.S. Please remember to use People First Language!

[MamaJem]

P.S. Please remember to use People First Language!

Can you explain what this means?

[tessmo]

People First Language insisits that we recognize the individual before the disability. Instead of saying "My Down syndrome neighbor" or " My CP (cerebral palsy) student" we would say "My neighbor who has Down syndrome" or "My student with cerebral palsy". There is nothing worse than when someone refers to my son as a Down's child. Yuk! You may even decide to leave the label out all together. People with disabilities have many abilities that make them more like you and me than not so we should recognize them for what they have to offer our world.

Thanks for the inquiry!

T. Moran