Xavier
Willow
Violet
Victoria
Teresa and Tia
Vaughn
The last report from December 2014 states that his overall health is good. He has gained some weight. Still lives in a foster home where he has activities to help him with his skills and development, he is in the first grade at a school for special needs children. He loves to watch the TV program “Dora la exploradora” and playing with lego games. He likes to help around the house.
Sasha
Ruth
Robert
Rebekah
Quint
Phillip
Peter
Resiliency only begins to describe Peter! This young boy has gone through so much medically, yet still finds the strength to smile through it all. No matter what, rubbing his head will produce a sweet smile of pure contentment and a look of peace in his eyes! Peter certainly has faced more than his share of medical challenges these past months. For quite some time, he was experiencing both scalp and skin issues that were resistant to seemingly all conventional treatments. After a long course of steroids and special mixtures of creams, Peter has finally experienced some relief and his skin is in the process of healing. While he has a history of seizures and is positive for sickle cell, both of those conditions are wonderfully under control with daily medications. Peter enjoys receiving special care and attention and really responds well to being able to attach to certain people he can trust. Update Jan 2015: Peter has lived with us for the past several years. He has cerebral palsy and sickle cell anemia. He cannot sit independently, but he can hold his head up in his chair or during tummy time. He has a skin condition called, “kerion,” but this is usually fairly well controlled with special creams and shampoos. He has frequent muscle spasms and is on medication for seizures. In the past several months, we have seen Peter learn to express himself more, and are seeing more of his adorable smile! Peter recently had a g-tube placed and is now getting fed through this. He can also eat soft foods by mouth and these are offered to him regularly. Peter enjoys receiving special care and attention and really responds well to being able to attach to certain people he can trust. His favorite nanny tells us that he calls her, “grandma”. Update Feb 2018: “Peter” is so alert and aware of everything going on around him. He is great at visual tracking and watches everyone carefully. He’s also starting to use eye gaze to communicate between choices and his new special education teacher has learned through this method that he knows his letters and numbers. He can’t control his movements well but can sometimes communicate on the yes/no board using eye gaze. Even though he is one of the oldest boys in the house, he still enjoys some cuddle time and will really relax if we hold him in the right position.
Pablo
Michael, Finn, and Felix
Maxwell
Mateo
Marin
Mandy
Maddie
Luna
Luciana
Lucia
Lollie
Leonel
Kelsi and Kameron
Jubilee
Josiah
Joey
Jesse
Jasper
James
Jais
Gabi
Frederick
Diana
Devin
Carlton
Bria
Brendan
Breckin
Bennett
Bailey
Audrey and Anna
Tomas

Anton

Adorable Anton loves to color, play with the hole puncher and throw confetti. He is also interested in photography. He loves going to school to be with his teachers and classmates. He likes to wear his school uniform. He can play alone but prefers to play with other children. He likes to be a leader and share his favorite toys. Anton recognizes geometric shapes. He generally follows rules and respects the instructions of adults. He understands what he is asked of him. He is potty-trained during the day, but wears a pull-up at night. Anton is expressive, recognizes the parts of the body, has good personal presentation and is known for leaving his work area very neat. Anton is a charming young boy that will bring happiness and joy to a family.
A grant of $2500 is also available from a specific agency, for Anton’s adoption!
Alan

At school he uses his arm moving it along a cookie sheet to spell words, make sentences, answer questions, etc. He also likes to use his arms to reach out and tag you, unplug cords or get cellphones… such a jokester he is! When he doesn’t want to work or he is tired then it is harder to get him to respond.
Alan has a g-tube but does still eat all meals blended by mouth and drinks water well from a honey bear bottle squeezed for him. His g-tube is used to supplement snacks for weight gain, to give him more water and to ensure he gets all his medicine properly. Some times when he is sick or is having a difficult time eating safely by mouth then he chooses to use his tube for meals. This helps us to ensure he is getting enough food/water too. When you ask him, he will often indicate to us he wants to be fed via his tube when he is struggling. Alan was slow to gain weight for a long time. He threw up a lot when he was on a milk-based formula and cried like he was in pain. Since then he has remained mostly dairy free and now his diet is supplemented with real food blends. There has been positive improvement overall!!
In the past, he had a couple unexplained episodes that were thought to be seizures. He is on Keppra but has not had any recently so his medical caregivers will try to wean him off soon to see how he does. The heat does seem to affect him so he is often more uncomfortable/grumpy in the summer months here in his home country. It is no surprise then that he loves when he has a fan by him to cool him down or if he is involved in water play. Swimming in pools or sitting in his water chair are two of his favorite activities to beat the summer heat. When swimming he likes to float on his belly and paddle his arms and kick. It’s a workout with him in the pool because of how excited he gets! With little head control, he has benefited from a float that can keep his head up while he tries to move his arms. He attends therapy four times a week currently. The therapists say he does much better in the stander when he has had his stretching beforehand. Often though he is not a big fan of standing unless someone sits with him and interacts with him.
Alan enjoys being held by his caregivers and going for walks. Going over bumps makes him laugh a lot. He loves to interact with his other friends in his foster family. He will make a great addition to his forever family and has so much potential!! Alan LOVES music and dancing. He gets really excited when people want to sing to him or help him dance. Sometimes if you are holding under his armpits he will lift up his feet like he is trying to walk. He can also flip himself over super fast. He keeps everyone laughing when he is in his good, giggly moods!
5 Siblings

The eldest sister, D, likes school and enjoys painting and drawing. She has good interactions with others and known as an empathetic, resilient and independent young girl. She enjoys playing in groups and shows leadership skills in playful activities.
Brother O is known as a well-adjusted nine year old boy with an extroverted personality. He does well academically and is especially good at math. O enjoys playing soccer and plays three times a week. He is described as having highly developed social skills and no concerns with his development.
Sister MB is eight years old and described as well adjusted. Despite being rather shy, MB likes to play with peers and participate in group activities. She is very close to her siblings, especially her younger sister FR. MB likes to play together with FR and the sisters frequently check on each other. She has strabismus but is otherwise healthy. It is noted that she does well academically.
Seven year old FR is artistic and likes to play sports. She seeks affection appropriately from others. She has good skills in matching and has a good attention span. FR has no known medical needs.
Baby brother L is five years old and likes to play games with his peers. He has good independent living skills such as feeding himself and getting dressed. He has a speech & language delay. The agency has additional information and a recent video of their contagious laughter.