About Parents First Call...

Learning that your baby has Down syndrome can be a confusing and isolating , even frightening experience. Skilled care and support from the medical team treating your child, and access to families who have lived through similar moments, can help.

The Massachusetts area is renowned for its excellent medical facilities and its concentration of experts in Down syndrome specifically. You can be assured that your child will have access to the very best.

We have also found that the opportunity to meet with other parents of children with Down syndrome can be invaluable. "Parents' First Call", sponsored by the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, is a volunteer, state-wide group of informed and involved parents who make themselves and their knowledge available to parents of children newly diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Experience has taught us much that we'd like to share with you. A packet of up-to-date information about Down syndrome and resources available to you and your child is just a beginning. You will undoubtedly have more questions.

Please call us. If we don't have the answer, we''ll direct you to someone who may.

Or call us if you simply want to talk. Not every parent in Parents' First Call has the same story or has found the same solution, but we have all had the same concerns at one time or another.

If nothing else, let us dispel myths you may have heard about Down syndrome. Ignorance and misinformation are our children's greatest obstacles.

There is one thing on which all of us in Parents' First Call agree: whatever our first reaction to the words Down syndrome , time has taught us that our children offer the same magical gift as all other children - the gift of love.

MAKE US YOUR FIRST CALL.
Our parents can offer:

• an opportunity to ask questions and share experiences
• information about Down syndrome
• assistance in locating services

Our services are free and confidential. For a contact person in your area, please call: 1-800-664-MDSC.