From diagnosis day forward, no family walks alone.
Support for families of children with Down syndrome and other disabilities, in three pillars that follow a family's real journey: the moment you hear the news, the years that follow, and the world your child grows up in. They exist together — a family can be standing in all three at once.
Choosing Hope
“No parent should receive this diagnosis the way I did.”
For expecting parents who have just received a prenatal diagnosis, and parents of a newly diagnosed newborn. This is usually where a family first meets us — in the days when the news is still new and nobody has said congratulations yet.
- Diagnosis Day Gift BoxesA care package delivered to your family at the moment the news lands. It says congratulations, not condolences — because that is what a new baby deserves to hear first.
- Resources for parentsPlain-language information for parents expecting a child with Down syndrome, and for parents already raising a child with special needs. Real information, real outcomes, real families — not a statistics sheet.
- Yami's story, and the letter she wrote youThe blog, the book, and an open letter to newly diagnosed moms that begins with the word “Congratulations.” Read it first. It was written for exactly where you are.
Diagnosis Day Gift Boxes are how most families first meet us. If you're a provider who wants gift boxes on your unit, email us.
Choosing Community
“It takes a village. We build the village.”
For parents, caregivers, siblings, and whole families raising children with Down syndrome and other disabilities — for the long haul, not just the first week. Yami went through the hardest part alone. You don't have to.
- Monthly support groupsRecurring, in-person gatherings in Brooklyn where parents of special needs children lean on each other. Peer-to-peer, not top-down. The parent three years ahead of you is the best resource in the room.
- Family gatheringsEvents where the whole family belongs in the room — siblings included. Nobody waits in the car.
Choosing Inclusion
“Inclusion doesn't happen by accident. Somebody has to choose it.”
For children with Down syndrome and other disabilities, their siblings and families — and for the gyms, studios, and businesses around them who want to open their doors and aren't sure how.
- Choosing Inclusion eventsWe partner with a local business to open their space, their staff, and the thing they already do well to children of all abilities for an afternoon. Each event takes the name of the partner's craft — Choosing Inclusion: Martial Arts with a gym, Choosing Inclusion: Paint with an art studio. Always free to families.
- A format any partner can hostOne template, any craft, any city. Our first partner is MAUSA Health & Fitness in Brooklyn. The goal is that a business runs it once and keeps an adaptive class on its own schedule for good.
Own a gym, a studio, a kitchen, a stage? A Choosing Inclusion event takes the name of your craft and opens it to children of all abilities for one afternoon. Host one with us.