I was watching Channel 5 today, and the Saturday Afternoon film came on called Kids Like These. It was about a couple, the man had a teenage son from his previous marriage, they had a baby son who was born with Downs' Syndrome, or a Mongoloid, assome of the doctors calledit in the film!

It basically showed the struggle the family went through to raise the baby, his name wasAlex, into a well rounded, intelligent, little boy. The staff at the hospital encouraged the parents to put the baby into an institution, not bond with it, and even gave the woman pills to dry up her breast milk!

I aint gonna lie, I was bawling in my house, screaming at the T.V., 'KEEP THE CHILD!, DOWNS SYNDROME OR NOT, ITS STILL YOUR PICkNEY!!!'

So I pose the question, if you were in that situation, what would you do? I hope I havent offended anyone? Its just, if it was me, Id keep it, Downs or not, a baby is a blessing!

niceone.gifPeace

I have a cousin with downs... no way would I get rid of her or a child of mine for something like that. Uh uh.

keeping and raising any child with speacial needs has to be the best solution ideally. Thats if you can cope of course. For some the reality of keeping a DS child is too much of a burden and they feel they cant cope, emotionally, physically or financially.

Its understandable how those who feel like that reach there and the enormity of the task shouldnt be underestimated.

If someone genuienly cant cope and doesnt respond to all the support available thenwouldnt itbe better for the child to be in an environment experienced in the needs of DS kids? Even if only temporarily.

Unless my child needed to be in hospital or a special home for his/her condition, then I would not be giving my child away.

To the author of the thread: how old was the film?

when i looked in the film mag, it said 1996, yet it seemed to be set in the 70s? it aslso had the dark haired actress from cagney and lacey.

Angel-I,

Everybody in this world would agree that they prefer to have a healthy a child, but if your kid( or mine) is born with down syndrome, I still would would keep him/her. I remembered working a job where I worked with many Down syndrome/Autistic people. There used to be a ladywho dropped her son at the center, with a 26 year old son who haddown syndrome son, but his mind was that of a 13 year old. For the most part, he was able to cook meals for himself, dress clean his room, catch publc transportation to go to school and talk about girls. He was a joy to talk to. Seemingly, th emom took really good care of this boy. While, I'm no expert of mental retardation, I honestly think that if his motherwouldn't havetook time to help her son grow and to teach him his needs,I think that he would be as comprehensive of somethings as does.Depending of the severity of down syndrome and depending how much time people are willing to take with these people, Down syndrome people can be just as productive and fulfilled as a normal human being. It 's what we don't do with them that worsens the problem.