If They Had a Voice – Character of Marley
Send us your stories about how a person with Down syndrome has changed your life. If we choose your story for our 21 Stories section then we will send you a free t-shirt. Stories cannot be about relatives. Thanks and we look forward to hearing from you! on twitter @jackjanamarley #iftheyhadavoice
I wanted to leave my story about a child that changed my life that happens to have Down syndrome. She is technically not related to me but I am not sharing her story with you for a tshirt. I just need her story to be heard. You see, 2 1/2 years ago I found out that children born in Eastern Europe who have Down syndrome are normally given up at birth and put into orphanages. Then between ages 4 to 6 they are transferred to adult mental institutions. I had always loved working with children with DS and the thought of them being treated so poorly broke my heart. One day while looking at a website that listed some of these children for adoption, I saw a little girl with blonde hair and hazel eyes that I just knew was my daughter.
For 2 years we have tried to adopt this little girl. She was 5 years old when we started the process and now she is 7. Her mother left her at the hospital the day she had her and has never come back for her. She has no relatives that are willing to adopt her or visit her.
We flew to Russia in July of 2012 to met her. At first she was angry with us for taking her away from her outside playtime. Once we went outside and blew up a big ball though she decided we were ok. During our visit I was able to teach her some sign language (ball, book, more, cracker, again, dog, horse, monkey) She picked it up very quickly and was very excited that we were trying to communicate with her. We had been told that she did not speak but on the second day when I asked her if she wanted to look at the book or play with the ball she signed and said book.
On our last visit with her we tried to sneak on the playground and just observe her with her group. She was way across the yard when we came out but we could hear her yelling and screaming for us. She ran right up to me and grabbed my hand. They tried to pull her away to go back to the group but she was not going to have it. She knew we were there for her and she liked that feeling. She soaked up all the individual attention we came her that visit and kissed and hugged us goodbye.
We thought we would be back in 3 months to have court and then bring her home. Little did we know that the Russian government would shut down all adoptions leaving this little girl to grow up in an institution.
We have been telling our story everywhere so that people will not forget our sweet Natasha. We have been to DC to ask congress for help. We are praying that the meeting between President Obama and President Putin will bring about change and a way for Natasha to come home instead of growing up in an institution.
If you would like to see what we are doing and like our FB page please do so. You may share with anyone willing to listen. I have also included a link to our video showing just how amazing Natasha is. No matter what the outcome is she will have always inspired me to do more for those who have something a little extra special going on and she will always be my daughter in my heart. Thanks for allowing me to share her story here.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/300-Broken-Promises/455788397829850
Thanks and we shared your story on our website/.
Jack