Featured in the Washington Post

You can get to know Barbara Curtis of MommyLife (one of our favorite bloggers) in a recent Washington Post article by Michael Alison Chandler that featured her family:

Jonny and Madeleine, the eighth and ninth children in the Curtis family, were born 54 weeks apart but grew up in many ways like twins. Best friends from the beginning, they learned to walk and sound out words together. But Madeleine's development soon outpaced her older brother's.

Looking ahead, Barbara and Tripp Curtis worried that Jonny, who has Down syndrome, would be alone as his siblings grew up and left home. And so they adopted Jesse, Daniel and, finally, Justin. All three have Down syndrome.

The same article provides an important look into the adoption of children with Down syndrome:

For many parents, a diagnosis of Down syndrome can be overwhelming as they face the likelihood that the child will struggle to live independently and require intensive medical, financial and social support. Most prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome lead to abortion.

Yet almost 200 families are on a waiting list to adopt a child with Down syndrome in the United States. Others are seeking to adopt such children overseas. Many of those interested in adoption, such as the Curtises, have a child with the genetic condition; some are special-education teachers or motivated by religious beliefs or idealism.

[snip]

In 2005, Brian Skotko, a resident physician at Children's Hospital Boston, surveyed more than 1,000 mothers of children with Down syndrome. He found that information mothers got from doctors was often "incomplete, inaccurate or offensive," he said. "Rarely was the option of adoption mentioned" to those diagnosed prenatally, he said.

What a tremendous impact one family can make by loving their children and promoting adoption (by doing it!).