IDSC: What is your primary goal?
Andrea from RR: To raise money so families can afford to save children with Down syndrome in foreign orphanages through the gift of adoption.
IDSC: Why is this so important?
Andrea From RR: This country, this world, is facing a severe moral crisis right now. Christian or not, scared of parenting a child with special needs or not, the ease with which a child’s life can be ended is appalling. It is nothing short of “genetic genocide”, in my opinion. Is the decision to terminate an easy one? I’m sure not. Just like you said, that mother is the mother of a child with Down syndrome for the rest of her life, no matter what path she takes. But to make that heavy decision based on some doctor’s ignorance, and her OWN lack of knowledge about what life with a child with DS is really like…that is what is so wrong about that decision. I once had a birth mom contact me asking about placement for her child with Down syndrome (domestic). They were not Christians in any way. She was only about 20 weeks along, and had the AFP test, and however they came up with the numbers, the doctor told her she had a 1 in 20 chance of her baby being born with Down syndrome. She wasn’t convinced to abort, but her husband was dead set on it, he “didn’t want no retard kid”. However, they were both set on not doing an amnio to be sure. I’m thinking to myself “you’re willing to terminate the pregnancy in full, but not have an amnio done to be SURE”? HUH?? Anyway, that is another story…so she was really struggling with this decision. I didn’t go through the whole spiel about how joyous and beautiful life is with a child with DS. My primary point to her was, that without an amnio, she was not going to be sure. There was no way to be sure. And if she chose to terminate without doing the amnio, she had a 19 in 20 chance of killing a perfectly normal, healthy child! I’m no math major, but that is a pretty obvious one to me. So eventually they did end up agreeing to the amnio, and guess what…their baby did NOT have Down syndrome. She comes back singing my praises. Praises not necessary….what is crucial is making sure people are making an educated decision, having a chance to speak to parents who are living it, learning about all the resources out there to help, and knowing that if even if they still don’t think they can handle raising a child with special needs, there are HUNDREDS of families standing in line to do it for them through the gift of adoption.
Reece’s Rainbow, although our focus is international, makes a serious statement….people in this country WANT these children. People in CANADA and ENGLAND and AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND want these children. And for birth parents here in the US who are considering terminating their child, think about that for a minute. There has to be a REASON why so many people want to adopt a child who happens to have Down syndrome, and why so many people adopt MULTIPLE children with Down syndrome. It’s not for adoption subsidy money, I can tell you that. It’s not because they are super parents (although they all are to me!) It’s because they recognize the GIFT that is Down syndrome. Despite the daily challenges, they recognize the joy and beauty that people with Down syndrome in particular bring to life. In my opinion, that extra chromosome is a marker of Divine nature. God makes these children with a particular “look” so they are easily recognizable as his personal messengers, sharing goodness and light in a very dark world. But the world sees them as freaks and invalids and useless mistakes. It is our job to change that, one adoption at a time.
IDSC: What are some final words you would like to leave with us?
Andrea from RR: You don’t have to adopt to save a life. Give what you can, share the ministry with others, reach out to your churches, your friends, your family, your social organizations, your colleagues, corporations, and celebrities. It really is that easy. And if we had a $10k or more grant for every waiting child on our site, there would BE no waiting children on our site.
The long term goal for Reece’s Rainbow is to work ourselves out of a job, that there would be no need for RR.