A new branch of Reece's Rainbow

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

A new branch of Reece’s Rainbow has started. It is

called Connecting the Rainbow. This part of RR will work on gathering

information and resources for families in Eastern Europe who have chosen to

keep their children with Down syndrome.

I wrote a blog post about it the other day and I will put

that below.

Our book is already in Bulgaria, as Bedford (mentioned

below), took it with her on her first trip to Bulgaria to meet their son in

December. She will be returning sometime in March or April hopefully to bring

their son home and she hopes to have a lot more supplies to take with her for

the families there.

Qadoshyah

http://gotdownsyndrome.blogspot.com/2010/01/reeces-rainbow.html

Reece's

Rainbow . . .

Reece's Rainbow is an adoption ministry for children with Down syndrome

mainly, but also other special needs. They help to bring awareness and find

families for the many orphans throughout the world, especially in Eastern

Europe. 250 children have found families since Reece's Rainbow started in 2006.

Many children have found their families this year and are in the process of

being brought home.

The Bedford family is adopting their 3rd child with Down syndrome from

Bulgaria. Their two other boys, Xander & Grifyn, came home from the Ukraine

& Serbia in 2007 & 2008. You can see their blog here.

Bedford has a unique opportunity since she is adopting from Bulgaria.

She has been able to get in contact with some parents in Bulgaria who have

chose to keep & raise their child with Down syndrome. These families are

going against the grain big time in their country by raising their children.

Now, this may seem strange to some. But, in Eastern Europe (EE) parents are

encouraged to give up their " imperfect " children (children with Down

syndrome) and let the government raise them in orphanages & institutions.

The orphanages & institutions do not give the child their fullest

potential. Lack of resources, staff & love creates an environment where

these children, who simply have an extra chromosome, do not thrive.

Some orphanages are very poor and the children have malnutrition and are very

small. They also typically don't receive the kind of attention & care they

need, which hinders them even more. Simply because these children don't have

the love of a family, they do not thrive at all. You may have a 4 year old who

is only 16lbs. That's not right. But, when these children are brought home to

families they THRIVE. The turn around these children make is amazing.

Then you have the mental insitutions, which often times are much worse than the

orphanages. The children will spend their day in cribs. Often times tied to

their cribs for hours at a time. Even left in their own waste for a long time.

Not all institutions are this way, but a lot are. In some EE countries,

children are transferred from orphanges at 5 years old and sent to the

institutions. Where they may spend just a few short months to a couple years

before their death because of neglect & lack of love. Or, they may be there

for many years and not be able to be adopted because that specific instition

does not allow adoption once the children are transferred there. Thankfully

there are some institutions which allow the children there to be adopted.

The boy is in the process of adopting from in Bulgaria is in an

institution. But, he is not in one of the horrible institutions. He is in a

place where there is more love & care given to the children.

Because of this opportunity has been given, a new branch of Reece's

Rainbow has been started: Connecting

The Rainbow. Connecting the Rainbow was put together to gather resources,

therapy items & literature to give to the families in Eastern Europe who

have chosen to keep their children. Becaue most people do not choose to keep

their children with Down syndrome, the families who do keep their children do

not have very many resources. So, Connecting The Rainbow was put together for

people to donate items to and then they will be taken to Bulgaria.

So, check out the site and see if you are able to help Connecting the Rainbow

in anyway!