In 2017, we welcomed our second child, Ted, into the world. Ted was diagnosed postnatally with Down syndrome when he was three weeks old. His Down syndrome hadn’t been identified when he was first born, which is unusual. I can wholeheartedly say that becoming Ted’s mum changed not only my life and my views, but also my practice as a social worker with seven years’ post-qualifying experience of working in learning disability services.
After Ted was diagnosed, we were given an insert for his ‘red book’. It detailed health conditions, the ‘medical surveillance’ recommendations and a delayed milestone list. The same baby went into that appointment with his parents as came out of the appointment, but after the appointment he was labelled, he had been ‘disabled’ because of that extra chromosome that they had identified. However, he was still the same baby, and was the same bundle of potential as any other baby.
Read more at: https://www.communitycare.co.uk/2022/03/21/what-being-a-parent-of-a-child-with-down-syndrome-taught-me-that-social-work-could-not/