HappyDowns exists to support family caregivers of teenagers and adults with Down Syndrome. Whether you’re a parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or another family member, we know the invisible load you carry — and we’re here to help you live your best life while supporting your loved one.
Our Belief
At HappyDowns, we believe caregivers must put their own care and health first. You have to be your best in order to give your best. That’s why we remind caregivers: you matter.
Our Mission
We provide inspiration, direction, advice, and practical resources so that:
- Caregivers can achieve their own goals while helping loved ones reach their full potential.
- Families feel safe to be honest about the hard times, while staying positive and solution‑oriented.
- Community grows through shared experiences, encouragement, and respect.
Our Resources
HappyDowns offers a growing collection of tools, guides, and supportive spaces designed to help you feel more confident, more prepared, and less alone on your caregiving journey. Here’s what you’ll find:
✔ Practical Caregiver Resources
Clear, easy‑to‑use guides on:
- kitchen independence
- personal hygiene
- emotional support
- financial management
- community and extra support
Each resource helps your loved one build independence while helping you feel more supported in daily care.
From planning checklists to comparison charts, you’ll find free, practical tools to help you stay organized and make confident decisions.
A safe, welcoming space where caregivers share honest stories and challenges — reminding you that you’re not alone and your feelings are valid.
Books created from lived experience to help you navigate boundaries, long‑term planning, self‑forgiveness, and the emotional realities of caregiving.
A gentle, reflective tool on our homepage that helps you pause, breathe, and reconnect with how you are really doing.
✔ The HappyDowns Caregiver Community
A growing global community where caregivers can find encouragement, role‑specific support, and a sense of belonging.
Our Promise
Being a caregiver can be challenging, but HappyDowns is about accepting your reality and then choosing your destiny. We believe that as long as there is life, there is hope. We encourage caregivers to rise above difficulties, keep fighting, and never give up.
HappyDowns is more than a website — it’s a tool, a safe space, and a community to help you care not just for your loved one, but for yourself.
Hi, I like what you are doing here. You are creating awareness by educating people on how to handle situations with regards to down Syndrome.Not only for those who are experiencing it first hand with their love-ones, but the society as a whole.i think this is very important and what most of us normally neglect or sometimes avoid to tackle.I wish you nothing but the best. Cheers!
Hi markadhel,
Thank you for your encouraging words. All the best in your endeavors as well!
Cheers.
Hi Alicia,
Years ago I worked as a counselor for a camp that catered to kids and adults with Down Syndrome. I read your post with interest because I think that often people are afraid or uncomfortable with an illness or condition they don’t understand.
On the positive side I found that if you take the time to establish trust, you’ll often find a personality that’s unique and sets that person apart from his or her condition–meaning they don’t have to be defined by their condition.
I also admire how you balance your information by reminding us that even people with Down Syndrome must be made aware of boundaries that should not be crossed.
Hi Thabo,
Thanks for stopping by HappyDowns and taking the time to look around. Yes indeed they have a unique personality that is separate and apart from the Down Syndrome. Very happy to hear that you had some time to meet such persons and thank you for being understanding of another person’s differences.
Take care!
What a wonderful website. Most of us, have experienced or been exposed to loved ones who suffer with handicaps from birth. Thank you for taking the time to extend information, training and hope for parents and caregivers who find themselves in these challenging situations. To be honest, as special as those with Downs Syndrome are, the parents and caregivers are equally so.
Hi Steve,
Thanks for your encouraging words.
Cheers!
Hi Alicia!
Great initiative. I’ve worked at a public hospital in Saudi Arabia where I had the opportunity to take care of kids with Down syndrome (DS). These kids are wonderful in every way imaginable. Even those aged well above 10 sometimes have the mind of a five year old, and I always felt for parents who appeared embarrassed when they brought their kids with DS and had to sit in the midst of other children and their parents at the pediatric clinics. We always had to reassure and encourage them because we knew these parents had a lot of challenges to deal with, ranging from the social issues to medical problems that some kids with DS have.
Blogs like yours remind me that there’s so much we can learn about other people and their difficulties. It makes it easier for us to understand our differences and be more open to helping those around us who have kids with trisomy 21.
Thank you and lots of blessings!
Hi Princila,
Thanks for the encouragement. I indeed hope that persons will see from this blog that they should be more understanding of persons who just happen to be somewhat different from them, but are still human the same.
Cheers!
Hi Alicia!
I really like your site.
It made me feel so happy inside. I know some people with Downs syndrome, from back home, and in all my memories they are always so positive, happy and smiling, and they LOVE sports!
They always put a smile on my face.
I pray one day, we will all be accepted and respected for who we are, despite our differences and with a site like yours we are on the right path.
Øssur
Hi Øssur,
Thank you so much for your kind words. I am so happy that HappyDowns could send some of the “happy” to you. I too hope to see the day when we embrace our differences.
One Love!
Hi Alicia,
A very good friend of mine had Down Syndrome. He is no longer with us (the Lord rest his soul). He had the warmest and most caring of hearts and even so, he was still abused and limits and boundaries that should have be respected were crossed. So, in short I really appreciate what you and your team are doing, because from what I know, it was challenging for him and his caretakers and for too long now the awareness for others have been very minimal.
Thanks guys
Hi Hughrel,
Thank you so much for visiting HappyDowns. I am so sorry your friend had a difficult life, but let me thank you for deciding to be a friend to someone with DS…too many persons don’t even give people who are deemed “different” a chance, and that is just unfortunate.
You are right…too many persons with DS are treated poorly by society due to ignorance. We hope that the work that we do at HappyDowns will help the world to see that persons with disabilities are human beings with lives worth living and we should all do what we can to help.
Come back and visit HappyDowns anytime and feel free to share your thoughts with us.
Take Care!
I have a daughter with Down Syndrome it has been a long journey. My daughter lives with me and now she is 47 yrs old and I will be 77 yrs old God is good!
Hi Suzette,
Thank you so much for visiting HappyDowns and for taking the time to leave us a comment. God is indeed good. Wow, you and your daughter have been on this journey for quite some time. If you don’t mind sharing, is there one thing you would share with other Family Caregivers that has helped you along your journey?
Thanks again for stopping by. We hope you will visit us again and feel free to share your thoughts/experience with us!