Father Refuses To Give Up Son Born With Down Syndrome After Wife Threatens Divorce

Father Refuses To Give Up Son Born With Down Syndrome After Wife Threatens Divorce

Leo Forrest was born January 21st with Down Syndrome, in Armenia; a country that gives up children with disabilities. Leo's father Sam who is a New Zealand native, was given a choice. Keep his son or his wife.

Forrest was given an ultimatum after his son was born but he tells ABC News, "She told me if I kept him then we would get a divorce. I looked at this guy and I said, he's beautiful -- he's perfect and I'm absolutely keeping him."

Sam's wife filed the divorce papers a week later and he's no longer welcome in the family home because he wanted to keep Leo. His mother refused to even look at or touch Leo for fear of getting attached in a society where defects are not accepted, often bringing shame on the family involved. So with little work, no money, resources or family, and now no home, Sam plans to return to New Zealand with Leo, where he can have a quality of life and acceptance, integration into society that sadly, is not yet possible in Armenia.

Sam is hoping to raise enough money to be able to care for Leo and you can help at GoFundMe.com/BringLeoHome.

In less than 2 weeks, over $200,00 has been donated and Forrest plans to use the extra money to secure better living conditions in Auckland, and to save for Leo's education. He also hopes to fund facilities and programs in Armenia that will support future parents to keep their kids despite all disabilities and support the only orphanage in Armenia that regularly takes abandoned Down Syndrome babies. "After what I've been through with Leo, I'm not going to sit back and watch babies be sent to orphanages. As a child with Down syndrome, that becomes somewhat of a label. If we can get around this label, we’ll see that they’re normal. They’re a little different from us, but they’re still normal," he says.

Stay Connected


Instagram

Categories: News

More From Big Frog 104