當38歲的德西蕾•懷特（Desiree White）想要從中國收養一名唐氏症（Down syndrome）兒童的時候，她被告知「這類孩子」不值得收養。
要感謝懷特的堅持，在他從中國收養5歲的艾薩克（Isaac）後，一切都開始好轉起來。現在200名生活在中國各處相關機構里的唐氏症兒童有機會找到屬於自己的家。
艾薩克剛接受收養時的樣子
德西蕾•懷特（Desiree White）和艾薩克（Isaac）
來自華盛頓州塔科馬市（Tacoma）的德西蕾•懷特，青少年時期就想過收養一個孩子。再大一些以後，有了小兒創傷護理經驗的她希望收養一個唐氏症兒童。
「當我決定要收養孩子的時候，我很清楚自己有能力和經驗來照顧這些有特殊需求的孩子。往往這些孩子要找到收養他們的家庭也更加困難。」她說道。
為了能夠收養中國的唐氏症兒童，懷特找到了貝薩尼基督教服務中心（Bethany Christian Services），這是一個1944年成立的非營利組織，他們提供的一項服務就是幫助孤兒們找到收養家庭。該組織的一名項目協調人員伊莉莎白•麥克金尼斯（Elisabeth McGinnis）表示，這些孩子如果不被收養，就不會有什麼其他選擇。
「其中一些孩子將會一輩子都住在相關機構里，還有一些甚至最後會流落街頭。」麥克金尼斯說道。
因為艾薩克是此類收養的第一個例子，懷特被要求向中國回饋有關他的情況。因為艾薩克在她的照料下，成長得很好。到了2013年，中國政府通過了另外14個收養唐氏症兒童的申請。
這之後，貝薩尼基督教服務中心為唐氏症兒童推出了一個名為竹子項目（the Bamboo Project）的計劃。自該項目2013年啟動以來，那些通過其收養了唐氏症兒童的家庭建立了一個強大的支持網絡，為通過該項目尋找收養家庭的40名中國兒童發聲。
通過該項目找到收養家庭的艾米•沃特森（Emi Watson）的故事值得一提。要知道，如果她現在在明尼蘇達州的家庭不賣掉自己的房子來滿足相關的經濟條件，可能她現在已經不在人世。
艾米·沃特森
沃特森家庭其實已經有兩個自己的孩子，但他們還是一直都很想要收養一個孩子。又因為女主人傑西卡（Jessica）是一名專業護士，最終他們決定收養那些有特殊需求額孩子。
對此傑西卡表示：「我們也曾有過擔心，但是最終還是做出了這個決定，因為每個孩子都應該有自己的家。」
他們的信念是如此強烈，為了收養，他們犧牲了很多，除了耗費了五年時間外，甚至還賣掉自己的房子來支付超過3萬美元的支出，然後不得不租住在一個更小的房子裡。
沃特森一家
「我們的確有所犧牲，但是比起一個鮮活的生命來說，這不是什麼問題。」她說道。
2014年1月，通過竹子項目他們第一次見到艾米。到現在傑西卡還記得自己的丈夫在見到艾米後，很快就將她逗樂的情形。但是隨後，他們就發現艾米的身體狀況很不好。
不過這並沒有阻止他們的決心，很快他們就將艾米帶回家。在回到美國後不久，醫生在艾米的心臟上發現了兩個洞，而且肺部狀況也很不好。不過這不僅沒有打消沃特森一家的勇氣，反而讓他們感到很慶幸，因為他們很及時的找到了這個孩子。
現在，在經過精心的治療後，艾米的身體狀況已經有了很大的改善。「她完全不知道自己的身體狀況，她只是一個很可愛的女孩兒。」傑西卡說道。
懷特和沃特森一家一有機會就會分享他們的收養故事，希望能夠激勵其他更多人加入其中。「艾米來到這個家一年了，她的故事已經幫助另外四個孩子找到收養家庭。」傑西卡說道：「可以說，她間接拯救了四個人。」
Tacoma boy opens doors for Down syndrome adoptions from China
A 4-year-old Tacoma boy is at the heart of how the world’s most populous country loosened adoption restrictions to find homes for some of its smallest citizens.
Meet Isaac White, a sweet, energetic kid, who knows his colors, letters, numbers and shapes, and loves to sing.
Desiree White adopted him from China when he was a baby.
At the time, the Chinese government did not actively find adoptive families for children such as Isaac, who has Down syndrome. Today, thanks in part to successes such as Isaac, more than 200 children with the condition are ready to be adopted from China.
White, a family nurse practitioner, was a pediatric trauma nurse when she sought to adopt. She had had what she calls 「remarkable experiences」 with her Down syndrome patients, and wanted to open her home to such a child.
「There’s really nothing about Down syndrome that’s going to stop a child from having a full life,」 she says.
White was looking to adopt internationally, where she saw the greatest need for children with Down syndrome searching for homes.
When she told Michigan-based Bethany Christian Services she was looking for a child with Down syndrome, the staff member on the phone went quiet for a moment.
It was not a request the adoption agency heard often.
「She brought Isaac home before that was something that was commonly done from China,」 said Elisabeth McGinnis, one of the China program coordinators with Bethany.
At the time, the Chinese government did not consider Down syndrome an 「adoptable condition,」 meaning children with the condition generally were not found families.
But on Nov. 1, 2011, White got a call, in which the staff member suggested she sit down. They』d found a child they thought would be a good match.
「Congratulations,」 the staffer told White, 「you have a son.」
Her story is not so uncommon now. China has designated Down syndrome an 「adoptable」 condition, opening the door for about 10 percent of country’s children available for adoption, White said.
McGinnis said China made more children with Down syndrome available after seeing the success Isaac was having.
Bethany got 14 additional Down syndrome children in 2013, and another 31 since then, as part of what the agency calls the Bamboo Project. Fifteen of those children have found homes in the United States.
「Seeing how much she (White) just adores Isaac made a way for us to share with other families: 『Look, these kids are absolutely loveable and they are precious, and see how well they can adapt,』 」 McGinnis said.
White helps lead an online support network for many of the families. She started the effort as a way to share advice, and it’s turned into a family of its own.
「It just blossomed into families helping people understand the awesomeness of Down syndrome, and how incredible adoption can be,」 she said. 「That’s a very specific, shared journey in adoption.」
Recently, families of eight kids who are part of the project reunited at a water park in Chicago.
All but Isaac were from the same orphanage originally. Two girls in particular clearly recognized each other, and held on to one another the whole weekend, White said.
Isaac, an independent kid, at one point yelled: 「I can do this!」 when someone went to help him down a water slide.
Very little that affects her and Isaac’s lives is related to Down syndrome, White said. They go to speech therapy once a week, and Isaac communicates in both English and American Sign Language.
The disorder has a spectrum of medical and developmental needs, she said.
「There is no recipe for adoption; there is no recipe for Down syndrome,」 White said. 「Every story is going to be totally different」
In some ways, she thinks, the condition can make the transition of adoption easier.
「I think the developmental delay … can actually end up protecting them from the trauma of adoption,」 she said.
White declined to talk about Isaac’s start in life (「I think when he’s old enough and wants to talk about it, he can,」 she said), except to say he lived with a foster mother.
In August 2012, when the adoption paperwork was finalized, White traveled to China to get Isaac. At a government building in rural southwestern China, the 20-month-old boy 「toddled into my arms and slapped me in the face,」 she said.
It’s a face he recognized. White had sent photos of her house and family to the foster mother in advance, and when White brought out the same photos at their hotel room, he pointed right at her, she said.
Her new motherhood started to click in the Beijing airport on the way home, White said.
「I got a banana, I sat him on my lap and I was feeding him,」 she recalled. 「I thought, 『I know how to do this. I know how to be what he needs.』 And it was over a dumb banana. I thought, 『OK, we』ve got this. We』re going to be OK.』」
Now, Isaac is in preschool, 「keeping up with all of his neuro-typical friends,」 and starts kindergarten next year, White said. He particularly likes a children’s program at the Seattle Symphony.
「He got to go up and meet the tuba player, which was the highlight of our lives,」 White said.
And the roller coaster he rode at the Washington State Fair this year was a hit.
「I thought his face was going to bust, he was smiling so big,」 she said.
She’s not sure what prompted China to make more adoptions such as Isaac’s possible. She thinks it’s partly that she asked for a child with Down syndrome, showing they』re wanted and can be adopted successfully into loving homes.
「I think maybe it was the little things that China saw,」 she said.
Asked about the impact she and Isaac have had on adoptions, White said that’s not what she was thinking about at the time.
「It was just one girl saying yes to a child,」 she said.
Read more here: http://www.theolympian.com/news/local/article36938223.html#storylink=cpy