The Holland Committee Mission Statement

The Holland Committee is a New & Expectant Parent Support Team. It is comprised of parents and medical professionals. The Holland Committee is being implemented to directly support the seven goals of the CDSC’s mission statement, with particular focus on providing support to families of children with Down syndrome and encouraging partnerships between parents and medical professionals. The Holland Committee will combat prejudices against babies with Down syndrome.
 
The Holland Committee is designed to be the first group to welcome new parents into the Down syndrome community. The Holland Committee will offer personal contact with other CDSC parents and families, and will try to establish an ongoing connection between new families and the CDSC.

The Holland Committee will welcome new parents in several ways. The Holland Committee shall provide expecting parents with accurate and relevant information about Down syndrome and provide new parents with strategies to cope with a prenatal diagnosis. And most importantly, Holland Committee volunteers will be available for these families whenever they need support. 

The Holland Committee will also work to update and inform medical professionals about the CDSC, Down syndrome, and prenatal diagnoses. This will be accomplished by providing up to date information about Down syndrome and our contact information for when a patient receives a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis. 

The Holland Committee is proudly named after Emily Perl Kingsley’s poem, Welcome to Holland.  In her poem, the author describes what it felt like to find out that her child has Down syndrome after he was born. Many of us parents who have children with Down syndrome had the same feelings when our children were born that Kingsley did in her poem. Welcome to Holland has been a true inspiration to many of us.

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