Over at the New York Times Motherlode blog, commenters are hotly debating the motives of a Texas woman who plans to adopt a six-year-old Chinese girl with scoliosis. The comments were prompted by the first in a series of guest posts by Jenny Staff Johnson about her adoption journey.

Johnson, who has two sons with her husband Mark, says she always wanted a daughter named Rosemary. She and her husband embarked upon a Chinese adoption, and found the wait was shorter for children who are older or have disabilities. Authorities sent her photos and information about dozens of children. Among them was an unsmiling girl who “appeared to have no physical or developmental problems other than a severe curvature of the spine.” An excerpt

We could handle this? Couldn’t we? Could we?

The stress was far worse on me than on my husband, who is a miracle of certainty in his own decisions. While I thought, read, fretted and cried, he quietly advocated for this to be our little girl. I took a hard look at our lives and wondered whether it might be better[to] minimize risk, to abandon the daughter-dream altogether and throw myself back into work as a writer. I could get a nanny, rent an office, and make a proper go of it as I hadn’t done in almost a decade. This fantasy held sway for about 24 hours, and Rosemary began to recede. But I just couldn’t make the call telling the adoption agency we wanted to return her file. Instead, at the end of the 30-day period and on election day 2008, we made a different call. Bring her home we would.

… Why have we chosen all this? Mostly because we want a little girl in our lives to complement our beautiful, rambunctious boys. And, I now realize, I must have inherited something of an adventure gene from my daughter’s namesake.

Johnson and her family have left for China to bring the girl home, and she will post updates as their journey continues.

See also: Gaithersburg woman helps kids with Down syndrome find homes — [MD] Gazette

John Loudon, wife adopted son with Down syndrome

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Republican Missouri state senator John Loudon and his wife are the adoptive parents of Sammy, a little boy with Down syndrome. The couple, who have deep roots in the anti-abortion movement, are also at the center of an ongoing national discussion about genetic testing, the acceptance of people with disabilities, and the type of information about Down syndrome that new or expecting parents are getting from their doctors.

Last year Loudon pushed through a state law, named for his son, that requires medical professionals to provide accurate information on the outcomes of people with Down syndrome and inform mothers with a Down diagnosis of adoption resources.

Some physicians and abortion rights activists worry that “Sammy’s law,” as well as the recently approved federal Kennedy-Brownback Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act, could interfere with the privacy of the doctor-patient relationship.

From the Washington Post:

Even as most prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome lead to abortion, more families are seeking to adopt children with the condition. Almost 200 families are on waiting lists to adopt a child with Down syndrome in the United States, and others are seeking overseas adoptions. Many of those are families who already have a child with the condition; some are special education teachers or people motivated by religious belief.

Last month, President Bush signed into law a bill meant to help families who confront questions about Down syndrome or other disabilities. It promotes initiatives to give new or expectant parents up-to-date information about the conditions, as well as referrals to support services. It also authorizes the government to help create a national registry to connect birth parents with people who want to adopt a child with Down syndrome.

Writing in the National Review, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) says a bill he successfully co-sponsored with Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) will help deflect a “eugenics mentality” that threatens to eliminate a whole class of people — children with Down syndrome –  before they can be born. An excerpt:

The Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act got final approval from Congress last week. The measure will provide support and balanced information to families upon diagnosis, and will establish a national registry of families wishing to adopt children with disabilities.

The irony is that if children with Down Syndrome make it out of the womb, their prospects in life are brighter than ever. Children and adults with Down Syndrome are often the centerpieces of their families. They have amazing gifts and are full of affection. Many adults with Down Syndrome have jobs, live independently, and make valuable contributions to the communities in which they live. (more…)

… is back on the Senate floor this afternoon.

The bill, Senate Bill 1810, is aimed at providing accurate and comprehensive information to parents who receive a diagnosis of a disability either prenatally or after the birth of their child.

The bill went down in July when Senate Republicans blocked consideration of a package of health care legislation in a party line vote. Presidential candidate John McCain signed on as a co-sponsor of the bill last week.

Gretchen Thibault, writing in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, says she was “thrilled” to see baby Trig on stage at the Republican convention. She and her husband are adoptive parents of a son, Ricky (at left), who has Down syndrome.

Thibault’s husband’s brother, Greg, was born with Down syndrome in 1959, and doctors urged the family to put him in an institution because “future children will be too embarrassed to bring their friends home.” Greg was raised at home, and died at the age of 18 of a heart condition that today would be treated with routine surgery. An excerpt:

As we see Trig Palin, one of the many children with special needs in the world, I hope those who are ignorant, by no fault of their own, grasp an understanding of the value of these precious lives and root it in their hearts. Let us be a country filled with individuals who don’t simply talk about caring for those less fortunate than we are, but that each of us actually accepts the responsibility and cultivates this virtue.

Ricky has eight cheerleaders in his home. He is a Rock Star – his red hair and blue glasses that frame his crystal blue eyes draw attention to him wherever we go. That great smile doesn’t hurt, either. Our pride bubbles over. We don’t mind him being at center stage. His nature makes us see life differently. While the stories of Greg’s life were always inspirational to me, life with Ricky has taught me and my children a lesson that no words can. I hope watching Trig grow before our eyes, as a nation, makes us better people.

(Photo of Ricky Thibault provided by Gretchen Thibault)

From the Houston Chronicle:

Because of abuse, genetic issues and a lack of prenatal care, adoptive children are much more likely to struggle with learning disabilities, prompting their families to leave public schools in search of the extra help offered by often costly specialty schools.

While adoptive children account for 1 percent to 2 percent of the population, higher rates can be found in almost every mental health setting, including residential facilities and public school special education programs.

Educators at some private schools for children with disabilities say they have found adoption rates 20 times what would be expected in a typical classroom.