Resources for People Adopting a Child with Down Syndrome

I get over 100 inquires per week for information about adopting children with Down syndrome. At a writers’ conference I attended last month, I met Nina Fuller, mother of two daughters with Down syndrome. Nina birthed one of her daughters who has Down syndrome and adopted the other one.

She recently published a devotional book, Special Strength For Special Parents; I’ll be reviewing her book at a later date on my blog.

Check out Nina’s web site — she offers free weekly tips for parents of special needs children, a newsletter, and a list of useful resource links.

A good companion volume for Nina’s book is Empowering Your Child Who Has Special Needs, by Debbie Salter Goodwin. Debbie’s book doesn’t deal specifically with adoption, but it contains lots of practical tips for parents of special needs children. 

If you’re looking for another good resource on Down syndrome, visit Sheri Plucker’s Web site. Sheri, who’s a friend of mine, is also the parent of a daughter who has Down syndrome. Sheri is the author of Me, Hailey! (Turtle Books), a picture book that introduces pre-schoolers and young school-aged children to Down syndrome.

Sheri’s site also contains some great information about parenting special children.

Another great resource person for information about parenting children with Down syndrome is author Barbara Curtis. Barbara is a mother of 12, including three children with Down syndrome (1 by birth, 2 adopted). Not only does Barbara provide info about Down syndrome on her Web site, but she has a wonderful blog called Mommy Life that’s worth reading regularly.

Watch for an upcoming profile about Barbara Curtis (that I wrote) in January/February issue of Today’s Christian magazine.

The books mentioned in this post are available from my Exploring Adoption Bookstore.

For more news and information about adoption, visit www.laurachristianson.com.