Dad Refuses to Give Up Newborn Son With Down Syndrome

[RPMDAD]

This story just totally shocked me. I can't believe a mother / wife acted out like this, but i know there are all kinds of people in this world. Now i know this happened in Armenia but i am still shocked.

When Samuel Forrest of Armenia heard a baby crying from outside his wife's hospital room, he knew his life would change forever.

Not only had he become a father, but he would soon receive some unexpected news about his newborn son.

"This pediatrician walks out of the room with a little bundle -- that was Leo," Forrest said. "She had his face covered up and hospital authorities wouldn't let me see him or my wife. When the doctor came out, he said 'there’s a real problem with your son.'


Forrest followed doctors and nurses into a room where he'd finally get to meet his baby.

"When I walked into the room they all turned to me and said 'Leo has Down syndrome," he told ABC News. "I had a few moments of shock."

After the news had sunk in, Forrest held Leo for the very first time.

"They took me in see him and I looked at this guy and I said, he's beautiful -- he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him."

Soon Forrest walked into his wife's hospital room with Leo in his arms.

Her reaction was unlike one he ever expected.

"I got the ultimatum right then," he said. "She told me if I kept him then we would get a divorce."

Forrest, who's from Auckland, New Zealand, said he was completely unaware of the hospital practices in Armenia when it came to children.


"What happens when a baby like this is born here, they will tell you that you don’t have to keep them," he said. "My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back."

Despite his wife's warnings, Forrest said he never had a doubt in his mind that he would hold onto his son.

One week after his birth, Leo's mom filed for divorce.

"It's not what I want," Forrest said. "I didn’t even have a chance to speak with her in privately about it."

https://gma.yahoo.com/dad-refuses-newborn-son-down-syndrome-221817795--abc-news-parenting.html

 

[vraiblonde]

"What happens when a baby like this is born here, they will tell you that you don’t have to keep them," he said. "My wife had already decided, so all of this was done behind my back."

Wait..."you don't have to keep them"? What do they do with the baby if you decide not to keep it? I mean, it's a little late for an abortion. So.....?

 

[catlingirl]

Wait..."you don't have to keep them"? What do they do with the baby if you decide not to keep it? I mean, it's a little late for an abortion. So.....?

I think they give the kids to an orphange. Good for the dad to keep the little one.

 

[Makavide]

Wait..."you don't have to keep them"? What do they do with the baby if you decide not to keep it? I mean, it's a little late for an abortion. So.....?

"When a baby is born that has an obvious difference, the child is most likely going to be abandoned at the hospital, left to the orphanage," said Sizemore, whose international adoption agency works to place orphaned children from countries like Armenia and Georgia with adoptive parents in the U.S. and abroad. "If the family kept the child then subsequent children born 'healthy' -- a child with Down syndrome is healthy -- would have a hard time receiving marriage proposals. They're looking at it from a bigger perspective of no one will accept [the] family, other people will terminate relationships with them. They don't want to be tied to that."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/06/man-son-down-syndrome-wife_n_6630868.html