I Want to Make an Adoption Plan

The National Down Syndrome Adoption Network was created to offer hope to expectant and new parents who felt they would not be able to parent their child, and wanted a loving alternative – adoption.

You are here because you love your child. You have reviewed the information about parenting a child with Down syndrome, you have educated yourself on what Down syndrome is, and after many sleepless nights and heart wrenching talks with your family, you feel that the best choice for your child is a family who is ready, and who wants to adopt a child with Down syndrome.

If you have not reviewed the information about parenting a child with Down syndrome, expectant parents go here; new parents go here.

How we work. The NDSAN has a registry of families who are approved to adopt a child with Down syndrome. They currently have what is called a home study – a document that verifies the family has passed background and fingerprint checks, medical evaluations, home checks, and referrals that were submitted on their behalf. These families are comprised of:

-Parents who already have a child with Down syndrome
-Parents who work directly with children with Down syndrome
-Parents who are siblings, nieces, cousins, or other family members of someone with Down syndrome
-Parents who babysat, attended church with, went to school with, or were friends with someone with Down syndrome
-Parents who feel called to adopt a child with Down syndrome

These families reside within the United States, all across the country. They are licensed to adopt within the U.S.

When an adoptive family is interested in joining our registry, they must have their social worker email their completed, signed, and updated home study to us. We then require the family to create a family profile for you - a visual storybook about their family that will go into detail about why they want to adopt a child with Down syndrome, and what experience they have with Down syndrome.

After we receive their family profile, we then email our registration form to the family. They tell us about their family as far as location, employment, faith, present children, etc. After we receive the registration form from the adoptive family, we add them to our registry.

After you talk with us, and after we have counseled you on parenting a child with Down syndrome and connected you with local Down syndrome supports…if you feel an adoption plan would be the best choice, we will honor your request and walk you through the process of connecting with an adoption agency, and connecting with families on our registry.

The adoption agency we connect you with will give us information on the child, and we will create a query in our database that will kick out a report of potential families who would be a best fit of what you may be looking for in an adoptive family. Families on the report will be contacted, and we will send all family information to the adoption agency. The adoption agency will confirm that the adoptive family paperwork is correct, and the agency will forward the adoptive family profile to you.

You will review family profiles, and when you are ready, a family will be chosen, and the adoption agency will take care of the legal aspects of the adoption.

The National Down Syndrome Adoption Network is here to honor you, your family, your child. We will provide you with ongoing support as you walk the paths of learning more about Down syndrome, parenting, and adoption. We will answer your questions, and we will be there as you go through this journey.

If you are ready to talk with someone about the adoption journey, contact Molly and Stephanie via voice or text at 513-709-1751, or email us here.

We also created a list of resources that will support at this time. You can view that list here.