Leo Forrest dilahirkan pada 21 Januari lalu di Armenia, negara yang membenarkan ibu bapa memilih untuk terus memelihara anak kurang upaya atau pun menghantarnya ke rumah penjagaan anak yatim.
Keputusan tersebut dibuat tanpa berunding dengan suaminya, Samuel Forrest yang bertekad mahu terus menjaga anaknya itu.
Apabila mengetahui dia mahu memelihara Leo, isterinya telah memfailkan penceraian, menurut Samuel.
ABC News berjaya menghubungi isteri Samuel yang mengesahkan telah melahirkan bayi tersebut dan memfailkan penceraian namun enggan mengulas lanjut.
Untuk terus memelihara Leo, Samuel telah menjalankan satu kempen bagi mengumpul dana menerusi GoFundMe dengan meletakkan sasaran sebanyak ASD60,000 bagi membawa anaknya ke New Zealand.
Setelah 10 hari dilancarkan, kempen tersebut berjaya melebihi sasarannya dan berjaya mengumpul ASD435,445 setakat berita ini ditulis.
English
When Samuel Forrest saw his newborn son for the first time, he thought he was perfect.
Forrest's son Leo was born with Down syndrome on Jan. 21 in Armenia, a country where parents are able to choose whether they want to keep children with disabilities or send them to an orphanage.
Leo's mother made the decision to give up her child, without consulting Forrest, he told ABC News. When she learned of her husband's plans to keep Leo, she filed for divorce, he said.
"This really came out of the blue for me," Forrest told ABC.
"I don’t have a lot, I have very little in fact. The goal is to raise enough for a year so I can get a part-time job so Leo doesn't have to be in daycare and I can help care for him. He's lost a lot in two weeks. It'd be different if he had his mommy."
To help raise money, Forrest set up a GoFundMe with a goal of $60,000 to bring his son to his native New Zealand. Ten days in the campaign far surpassed that goal, raising $409,632 as of this writing.
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