Reece's Rainbow

Last year, as Christmas approached, Sacramento mom Jennifer Sanchez decided to donate to an Angel Tree project. The fundraiser was sponsored by Reece’s Rainbow, a nonprofit dedicated to helping orphaned children with special needs find adoptive families. Jennifer came to a picture of Sofia, a Ukrainian baby with Down syndrome, and decided to donate to her fund.

Weeks later, Jennifer was still thinking about that sweet little face. “I couldn’t get her off my mind,” she says. “I found myself imagining her in our family.”

Reece's Rainbow
By Melanie Heimburg

Jennifer and her husband, Hector, have three biological children—all boys: Diego (their smart, athletic oldest), Mateo (their shy, sweet second child), and Joaquin (their happy, busy little baby, who also happens to have Down syndrome).

“A child with Down syndrome is a gift,” says Jennifer. “Joaquin has changed our lives in the most positive ways. He is the light of our lives, and he is also the reason we felt so strongly that we needed to save and adopt Sofia.” Jennifer says “save” because these children otherwise lead a miserable existence in overseas orphanages, where many lack medical care, therapeutic interventions and education, not to mention the love and care of a family.

Reece’s Rainbow raises awareness about this need. The organization also raises money for waiting children, giving adoptive families the extra financial help they need to bring a child with special needs home.

The Rainbow’s Beginning

Reece’s Rainbow was launched in 2004 by Andrea Roberts. Named after the Roberts’ baby boy, Reece, who was diagnosed with Down syndrome in April of 2002, the organization began with Andrea’s outreach work supporting other parents. It quickly grew to focus on international adoptions, helping children with special needs find loving parents who would appreciate them, the same way they appreciate Reece.

With help from Reece’s Rainbow, after raising funds, filling out countless official documents and spending more than a month halfway around the world in Sofia’s birth country, the Sanchez family welcomed Sofia home as their own in June.

You can follow their journey, complete with wonderful photos, on Saving Sofia, the family’s blog dedicated to chronicling their journey. (The family’s original blog, Three’s a Charm (trisacharm.blogspot.com), was inspired by Joaquin.)

Other Northern California families are still going through the Reece’s Rainbow adoption process. (You can read about Ben and Danielle Nichols' journey to adopt their son, Ivan in our November 2010 issue, too.)  To see the sweet faces of children still waiting to be adopted, to read the blogs of families in the adoption process, or to donate to the organization, visit ReecesRainbow.org.