Aging Out Children

Jasmine is a wonderful teenager who is blind and on the autism spectrum.

Jasmine is known for her big, tight squeezey hugs! She is also known for her strength. Jasmine loves water play more than anything else. She dunks her whole head in the water and comes up for a breath with a loud laugh. As soon as she hears water, she beelines for it and tries to dive into it, even if it’s a caregiver filling up a bucket to wash her clothes or another child’s bathtime! She also really likes the sit and spin and the trampoline. She jumps very high!

Jasmine has some commands in both English and her native language that she can follow. She vocalizes but is non-verbal. Jasmine needs support for her acts of daily living but feeds herself. She loves food from her culture and rarely tries even a bite of western food! Jasmine is a happy and loveable girl who brings a lot of laughter wherever she goes.

Cedar is a sweet boy with an adorable raspy laugh who is totally blind and on the autism spectrum. He is nonverbal and needs support in all his acts of daily living.

Cedar can stand up from the floor by himself and is able to walk independently. He receives training on using his white cane. He can go up and down the stairs independently. Cedar makes lots of sounds but does not yet say any words, although he does understand some words in his native language and in English. He feeds himself.

Cedar loves sensory play in shaving cream, and his last birthday party was a shaving cream party! He covers his whole body in it. The year before, his home played Cedar Says, an adaption of the game Simon Says, where all the kids copied Cedar’s unique sounds and acrobat moves! He loves the standing swing, water play and he gets excited when his teachers help him do the actions to Head and Shoulders. He is known as being his home’s acrobat and can most often be found climbing on something or hanging upside down! Cedar is a joyful kid and brings a lot of laughter wherever he goes.

Tia is the younger of the two; she is very affectionate and attached to her big sister. She loves animals, ice cream, Legos, and art. She has a lot of friends. She follows instructions and understands right from wrong.

Tia’s older sister, Teresa, has aged out and is no longer available to be adopted.

These sweet sisters participated in the summer hosting program in August of 2018 and were very well behaved girls that got along very well with others. They were kind, considerate, and would do well in a family. These girls had a family at one point, but the family had to back out.

There is a $1500 agency grant for Teresa and Tia’s adoption with a specific adoption agency.

Meet Lacey, a beautiful young girl with a bright smile! MAA staff met Lacey in October of 2022. Lacey, born in December of 2007, cannot talk but she interacts through her facial expressions. She has a beautiful smile, and she raises her arm when she is having a really good time. She was diagnosed with neurodevelopmental delays and congenital cardiopathy. She eats by feeding tube. Due to having an accelerated heartrate, she doesn’t gain weight. We hope her forever family sees her soon! Contact the agency to learn more about Lacey!

VIDEO: https://vimeo.com/maaspecialkids/maa-lacey01
Password: Adoptmaa

January 2022 Update: Tatum is an incredibly bright, resourceful, and happy teenage girl!

Tatum has no active use of her arms or hands (they are flaccid). No official diagnosis has been given. Tatum is very skilled with using her feet for fine motor tasks and uses them to eat with a spoon and to write. She has beautiful penmanship! She can criss-cross her legs and sit comfortably on the floor. She is not an independent walker and has weak core muscles. She gets around the home by scooting on her bottom and she can also scoot down stairs. Tatum feeds herself, holding the spoon with her toes. She is independent in her toileting and helps with tasks in the home like folding clothes.

Tatum has a sweet and kind personality. She likes to play with and watch over the younger kids in the home. She is interested in painting and singing and she saves all her paintings. She received a Barbie for Christmas and really enjoys playing with it. Tatum has good language and communication skills and expresses her needs and feelings to her caregivers. Her caregivers report that she is a happy and content child with appropriate emotional behavior.

Tatum used to go to a local school but is learning at home now due to covid restrictions. Due to a late start in formal education, she is behind where she should be but appears to have no intellectual delay. She loves school and typically receives A and A+ grades. Tatum is very bright and is eager to learn, and very diligent in completing her work. She is fluent in her local language, progressing in English, and now learning a 3rd language.She says she likes math the best.

Tatum has a charming, endearing personality and is well liked by her teachers, her caregivers, and the other kids in the home. She is an absolute joy and would thrive with more resources and with the love and stability of a family.

Gabi has been diagnosed with Down syndrome. She loves attending the pre-school at the orphanage, but she has struggled with learning basic concepts such as numbers, letters, etc. However, with more one-on-one instruction, it is believed that she can and will learn. Gabi is well-liked by the other children at the orphanage. She is also a favorite of visitors who come to visit. Gabi can sometimes come across too strongly in her attempts to get attention, but she truly is a delightful little girl!

Wynonna has suffered from mental health issues associated with the grief and loss around the death of her mother. She has made improvements in the orphanage and needs a family who can support her through the process of grief. She lives in the institution since 2021. She is an average student.  She is a medically healthy and active young girl waiting for the loving family she deserves.

Dinah is giggly, likes to snuggle, sweet, content. Will play with toys, seek out preferred toys, and seek out preferred children to play beside. She has been working on using a simple voice-output communication system to greet the other children and choose between two toy options. She is social and gets very excited when surrounded by lots of people. She likes to do what the other children are doing. She can follow simple commands in English and can identify body parts by touching them when asked. She shows ability to build strong attachments and follows her preferred caregiver and opens her arms for a hug. She loves to dance and immediately stands up and starts dancing when music comes on.

Aug 2020 Update: Most weekdays, after breakfast, Dinah spends time working on self-care skills.. She also has class where she works on a variety of skills, especially her gross motor and O&M skills. Dinah radiates joy and excitement when she dances!

January 2022 Update: Tricia is a sweet teenager with seizure disorder and intellectual delay. Tricia loves jewellery and likes having her picture taken! She loves music, dancing, painting and jumping on the trampoline. She likes picking out her prettiest outfits. Tricia has a little speaker that she carries around the house, dancing to all the songs that it plays. We call her the Dancing Queen!

She is progressing with learning her alphabet and numbers in class. She can speak in short sentences in her native language and she uses some words in English. She needs support with her acts of daily living. Her speech is somewhat slurred and she struggles with attending to tasks and conversations. Since Tricia has trouble with concentration, she has dance and song breaks often while in class. She is very motivated by adult attention and is learning boundaries with adults she doesn’t know very well. She desperately asks for a family.

Feb 2022 Update: Melanie is a social, interactive, engaging teenager who has intellectual disability. She walks independently but her gait is weak. She has a great sense of humour, loves to laugh, and is very content and agreeable.

Melanie is really progressing with her acts of daily living. She feeds herself, applies powder to her face and she can wash her own dishes now. Melanie is practicing beading so that eventually her fine motor skills will be advanced enough to join her home’s vocational class as they work on jewellery making. She follows direction well and can identify her colours. She can go up and down the stairs by herself using the railing. Melanie can undress herself and is learning to dress. She is mostly non-verbal but says a few words that she has learned recently in her local language.

Melanie loves sensory play in the water. She likes trying to trace letters with chalk and she enjoys ball games. She concentrates on one toy for a sustained period of time. Melanie loves splashing at the beach and is very friendly with other kids and adults! Her favourite song is Jingle Bells and she likes to listen to it all year round! She gets very excited when she gets new outfits.

Sibling set – Must be kept together!

Casey, the younger girl was born in 2008 and has some kind of development delay. She is smart and active, participate in all orphanage performances. She has now been transferred.

Her older sister, Lynn, was transferred from her orphanage due to her age. She was born in 2006. By orphanage social worker her older sister is VERY smart and beautiful, very active in all performances. She has now been transferred again.

Both girls need a family asap!!!  These 2 siblings are to be adopted together for sure.

They have an older brother born in 2004. Elliot is no longer eligible for adoption, due to his age.

They have a younger brother as well, and he has already been adopted.

 

From Zach’s host family (hosted December 2014)
Zach is a lovely 6-year-old boy and an absolute delight. He has a joyful and cheerful disposition, a sweet spirit, and an infectious smile. He is smart and resourceful in his interactions and playing. He enjoys playing with cars, dolls and animals, flying helicopters, and almost any mechanical objects. He enjoys playing pretend games, like pulling pretend luggage around the house and pretending to cook and serve us with play food, plates, cups, saucers, etc. He loves music and often sings as he goes about his day, and he’s been enjoying learning to play his new harmonica. He interacts well with other children: in our case with our 7- and 8-year-old daughters. He also has a good memory and surprised us by quickly learning things like where all of our dishes go and where we turn to get to our house. He has adapted so well to life in a family, and loves the bedtime rituals of bathing, brushing teeth, getting into his pajamas, and reading; but he also has an endearing habit of making sure the proper lights are turned off, doors are locked where they need to be, etc. He clearly is proud to show he can take on big-kid responsibilities. Zach has to work harder than most children to climb up steps and to get himself up off the floor. But he does navigate steps well, though he needs a boost at times getting into vans or other high places. In December, he was still able to walk normally, except that he has to be more careful than other kids in negotiating uneven surfaces, and steps. He doesn’t let this slow him down or limit his activities. On playgrounds, even with many unfamiliar children, he is not inhibited about climbing the equipment and riding down slides. He accepts help sometimes from us or from our children; other times he wants to show that he can do things alone even if it is harder for him. Zach can sometimes act like a much younger boy. He has a strong stubborn streak, which will sometimes manifest itself in a tantrum. Those tantrums did lessen over the weeks, however. He also enjoys being held, cuddled, and paid attention to and will come and say “Mama bao bao” when he wants to be picked up and carried. As our 7-year-old (without prompting from us) wrote in her journal, “Zach is the best boy I have ever met. He is cheerful and happy.” The medical evaluations we were able to do point to significant medical challenges ahead for Zach, and he will need a loving family to support him through those and ensure that he has the best care possible. Zach loves being a part of a family and will be a blessing and joy for whomever is lucky enough to adopt him.

Does not speak, but smiles a lot.

What a little doll Tessa is! She really needs a family — she has a whole host of medical issues.

Mental delay, rickets, strabismus (crossed eyes), epilepsy, and a speech delay. She does not talk at all. She prefers to be alone. Some of her behaviors remind autism but she was not diagnosed with it. Her epilepsy is well controlled by medications. It has been suggested that Tessa may have Angelman Syndrome, but this is not confirmed. She is able to stand and walk independently. She does not have a diagnosis of CP but she walks unsteadily. She was previously diagnosed with microcephaly.

She deserves a loving family and a chance to reach her potential, not to be hidden away in a mental institution.

Seth and Victor are brothers currently residing together in a foster home. Seth has a moderate mental and physical delay but is otherwise clinically healthy. Victor has hypothyroidism but is otherwise healthy and not delayed.

Regina’s Apert’s syndrome does not prevent this curly-haired little girl from playing, learning, and living an active life! Regina is an intelligent and imaginative child who enjoys dolls, swings, slides – and watermelon! Could she be your daughter?

Regina needs corrective surgery for her hands, feet, and face, to help her be all she can be. A loving family would give Regina a future outside of a bleak institution.

Many additional pictures and videos of Regina are available upon inquiry.

From a missionary who knows him: I loved this boy. He really enjoyed attention and affection. He just giggled and giggled. He liked getting high fives and having his belly and head rubbed. Even when I walked to the other side of the room he was still giggling and waving. He has so much joy for someone stuck in a crib all day. He needs a family to reach his potential!

Update from a family who met her Sept 2015: this girl is absolutely precious!

Update from a family who met her in late 2013: Lydia is the sweetest little girl! Our kids were in the same groupa, so we got to see Lydia everyday we were in country. She is a joy! Lydia spends her days sitting in a stroller with hardly any interaction. Now that our kids are home, she is the only non-walker left in her groupa, so she is the only one who sits in a stroller all day long. She looks to be about the size of a four year old, but looks like she is a healthy weight. She’s got a little chub on her legs. Her legs are not scissored, but when I lifted her legs up, they were definitely tight.

She needs a Mama to stretch her legs! Her legs are always bent at the knee draped over the bar of the stroller (she’s too big for her stroller). I couldn’t tell how much head control she had because her head was always supported by her stroller, but her head was always upright, not bobbing. I never saw her move her body (except to arch her back when tickled), but one day I held both of her hands, and she was able to grasp my hands tightly in hers. Neither hand seemed weak. Lydia’s vision looks pretty good. She could follow me with her eyes, but there’s a good possibility she’ll need glasses. Her poor teeth are rotten. We watched her eat lunch once and she seemed to eat well. She eats pureed food from a bottle. Did I mention she is SO sweet? Lydia seems to be very easy going. Once a child was hanging on her and pushing on her and she didn’t respond except to make a face showing that she didn’t like it. Lydia was my favorite child to interact with in the groupa. All I had to do was say hi to her and smile and she would light up EVERY single time and reward me with a big smile. We tickled her lots and she giggled away. One time she was left in a room all by herself and was crying. I peeked my head in the doorway and said hi to her and she immediately stopped crying and started smiling and giggling. She is very responsive when talked to. 🙂 Even though she is non-verbal, she communicates with lots of smiles and giggles. This little lady is FULL of joy! She will truly BLESS any family! Please, please consider this sweet little one. She is still in the babyhouse, but is one of the oldest in her groupa, so she will be one of the next children to be transferred. She does have an older brother who is eight years old and looks to be typically developing. I’m not sure if they will need to be adopted together or separately.

Gretchen is a sweet little girl with giant blue eyes! She is officially diagnosed with FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome), and was *previously* a carrier of her mother’s Hep C antibodies. She is testing negative now. She does have strabismus as well. She is able to stand on her own, but is not quite walking yet. She is cognitively delayed, but is affectionate.

Gretchen is a beautiful little girl who deserves a family of her own.

Oh Darina, how she has regressed — We had such a darling photo of her from two years ago, and to see her like this now breaks my heart. She could have come so far and been spared this.

Darina is facing the institution soon and will remain bedridden for life if she is not adopted.

Chase is a handsome Roma boy with dark hair, olive skin and giant brown eyes. He needs a loving family of his own to bring him out of his shell and to finally feel comfortable and safe.

From his medical records: obvious mental delay, poor understanding, almost does not speak, nervous, not even-tempered.

NEW PHOTO!! Brandi is listed with bilateral hearing loss, but can definitely hear, as she will turn around and look for the person calling her name, and does respond to commands given if she chooses (if she doesn’t, she screams/attempts to run/swats at the caregiver). Cognitively, she is very delayed, more like a toddler, in ability to understand what’s going on around her, and in her responses, and appropriateness. She also has strabismus in both eyes, and has both a heart condition and anemia. She does NOT have CP, nor microcephaly. She does have brain malformations, significant developmental delays, and many stimming behaviors that are typical of lower functioning autism. She is completely nonverbal.

Families interested in Brandi should be aware that she appears to have autism, and that it impacts her significantly. She is a “runner” and will bolt and run unless contained or restrained and potential families need to be aware that this is common in autism, and that they will need to take appropriate measures to keep her safe in a home and family. She has a history of aggression when changes occur, such as a move, or unexpected event, which include biting peers and adults, and she struggled for at least a year after her last orphanage change four years ago, but is doing better now. However, as many with autism thrive on routine and predictability, families need to be aware that she may handle a transition poorly, especially at first. She has excellent mobility, and is very typically sized for a normal 7 year old in weight and height, and when she resists, it is challenging for a grown woman to hold her back. She has been in a school for the deaf, however, she knows no sign language nor does she read lips. She is very much in her own world in many ways. She enjoys music and will sometimes clap, but remains disconnected from the group and does not interact with adults (was not seen with peers).

Brandi attempts to smell/lick everything that is handed to her and when she realizes it isn’t food, she is not typically interested. The nannies report that she has an excellent appetite, and that she enjoys eating. She stims by rocking, throwing herself back and forth, sucking all four fingers on her hand, grunting, and moaning/shrieking. She walks with a lurching gallop. She flaps her hands often. A potential family should be aware that she has no awareness of danger, no fear of strangers and is very much like a very young child emotionally and cognitively, but physically is strong and very mobile. She currently takes psychiatric medications to assist in sleep and behavior.

She is a lovely little girl, with beautiful blond hair and clear complexion. She is in a good orphanage where she is well cared for. Families need to research autism, and be comfortable and familiar with caring safely for a child with the issues mentioned above, in order to provide Brandi with a safe, loving home.

This handsome 14 years old boy is a practitioner of the Christian religion, he likes sports activities such as soccer and cooperative games, he is characterized by being responsible in the preparation of school tasks and he likes research. His favorite food is ceviche, fries and chicken, his favorite color is green, his favorite toy is drones, his favorite character is Cristiano Ronaldo. He wants to be adopted and have a loving and caring family.

Sanders was born in August of 2008 with cerebral palsy, global developmental delays, and epilepsy. In 2019, he has a gastrectomy surgery. Sanders has grown up in an orphanage and has never known the love of a family. Sanders has certain gestures when he sees people of his liking. On February 22, 2018, he had a surgery for tendon lengthening of the adductor muscle. Sanders continues his stage of schooling. In addition, he attends physiotherapies, which are important for his muscle development.

Contact the adoption agency to learn more about Sanders! They’d love to share photos and more information privately with an interested family! We hope his family sees him soon to give him lots of affection and love!

Jilly and Justine are beautiful sisters! ** Photos are available for serious inquiries, from the agency **

Jilly was born in July of 2007 with Down syndrome. She has been receiving occupational therapy and attends special education classes. Jilly is a cheerful and active child. She can complete activities when motivated and can focus when playing and singing. Jilly can fold her clothes and organize them in her cabinet. She can also make her bed and do other simple household chores, such as cleaning her room and stacking chairs. Jilly can perform basic self-care activities, such as combing her hair, washing her hands, and brushing her teeth. She can toilet independently. Jilly loves to hug her caregivers and other children!

Justine was born in 2008. A psychological assessment in 2014 noted her to have a learning disability. She underwent another psychological assessment in 2015 and the results stated that her intellectual capacity is above average. Justine was enrolled in a regular school and was noted by her teacher to have good leadership skills. In 2017, Justine was recommended by her neuro-developmental pediatrician to attend special education classes, where she will be given individualized learning instructions tailored to fit her needs. In 2018, Justine attended mainstream school and completed 2nd Grade. Justine enjoys singing and dancing. She can easily make friends, but easily gets upset when she is teased or when her toys and other personal belongings are taken away from her. Justine is attentive and loves to talk and take part in conversation. She enjoys outdoor play. Jilly and Justine are aware that they are sisters and would love to be adopted together. Justine’s concept of adoption is having a new family that will take care of her and her sister, Jilly! We know there is a wonderful family out there for Jilly and Justine!

There is a $3,000 agency grant for Jilly and Justine’s adoption with the agency. Jilly and Justine need a family with an approved home study to be able to hold their file or move forward with adopting them.

Damian is able to speak and understand everything but prefers using mimics and gestures to communicate.

He prefers sporting and free activities. He orientates well and quickly when solving puzzles. He likes riding a bicycle, playing with pins and mini-soccer.

Damian participates in playing activities, both individual and group, but often does not follow the rules. Damian is able to make his bed when he gets up. He can fold his clothes and tidy his wardrobe. He needs to be reminded about maintaining his personal hygiene and shows no interest in acquiring skills for cleaning and maintaining his personal space, cleaning utensils and other daily activities.

Damian eats well and sleeps calmly. His attitude towards possible adoption is positive.

Tomas is in urgent need of a family!

He has heart disease and recently needed a pacemaker installed. He can stand a little with a walker but cannot walk. He can sit up on his own. He can only babble and cannot talk. He does smile a little bit at his caregivers. I don’t believe he is able to feed himself. He needs 100% help with all his activities. Tomas would thrive in a family setting, with access to all the medical care and therapies he really needs!

Bradlee is a sensible and well-liked boy, born in August of 2008, who gets along well with the other children in his school and orphanage. He’s not always serious though, as he’s up for a good laugh anytime! Bradlee started attending school at the orphanage in September of 2015. He’s been taking language arts, math, art, music and PE. Bradlee’s teachers say he’s a good student and participates in class. At the end of the first semester of school, he received the “Star of Good Behavior” award! Bradlee is independent with dressing, bathing, and making his bed.

An adoptive mama and advocate has met this child, who she called Brett, and wrote this post about him: https://adoptingthalassemia.com/2018/04/19/smiley-brett/

When admitted to the orphanage Bradlee was initially diagnosed with a heart defect, but later ultrasounds showed it resolved on its own. Bradlee was born with beta thalassemia major and currently receives blood transfusions every two months, as well as chelation medication to treat iron overload.

It is clear Bradlee isn’t getting the care he needs or would get here due to the frontal bossing you can clearly see in the forehead area. If untreated or treated improperly, beta thalassemia major can cause the bone marrow to expand. Bone marrow is where most of the blood cells are produced in the body. The bone marrow expands because it is trying to compensate for chronic anemia. This abnormal expansion causes bones to become thinner, wider, and brittle. Affected bones may grow abnormally (bone deformities), particularly the long bones of the arms and legs and certain bones of the face. When facial bones are affected it can result in distinctive facial features including an abnormally prominent forehead (frontal bossing), full cheek bones (prominent malar eminence), a depressed bridge of the nose, and overgrowth (hypertrophy) of the upper jaw (maxillae), exposing the upper teeth. The affected bones have an increased fracture risk, particularly the long bones of the arms and legs. Some individuals may develop ‘knock knees’ (genu valgum), a condition in which the legs bend inward so that when a person is standing the knees will touch even if the ankles and feet are not.

Bradlee desperately needs to find a loving family soon- access to good medical care will be life-saving and life-changing for him!

There is a $2,000 agency grant for Bradlee’s adoption with his current adoption agency. The Cooley’s Anemia Foundation is also giving a $1,000 grant for any child with transfusion dependent thalassemia.

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A WONDERFUL very kind, careful, attentive, loving, thoughtful, super-friendly, helpful girl with a very good potential for education. She NEEDS a family and more than ready for it!

In fact, it seems like she has NO severe mental delay, just educational delay and perhaps mild mental delay. She walks normally as a usual child.

Update Dec 2021, from someone who met both Hazel & Ivory:  They are really tiny young ladies, so sweet and giggly. They stopped by the orphanage director’s office to say hello.  Hazel is practically without special needs, and she is inseparable from Ivory.   Since Ivory is blind, Hazel watches out for her little “sister”.   So sweet.

Her biggest problem she cannot see good and that is why she is significantly delayed.  By some reason she cannot have her glasses on when she needs them permanently. Instead she gets them only for classes.

 

Update Dec 2021, from someone who met both Hazel & Ivory:  They are really tiny young ladies, so sweet and giggly. They stopped by the orphanage director’s office to say hello.  Hazel is practically without special needs, and she is inseparable from Ivory.   Since Ivory is blind, Hazel watches out for her little “sister”.   So sweet.

Emerson has waited SO long.  Emerson is such a handsome and active boy with an awesome smile! He needs a family! Emerson is growing up so fast! He is so tall now! He is a sweet, blonde haired, blue eyed boy waiting for his forever family. He is quite self sufficient and a happy child.

Info from a family that met him 10/15:  He has a lot of energy, but he listens well to the nannies. They often reminded him to behave in passing – though it was more of a reminder that they were watching than because he was acting up. He interacts well with other children though he did not engage me (adult) very much. He is delayed, but has potential in a family. Super cute. He needs a family, there is so much hope and potential for him that he will not get in an orphanage. He would do well with older children to set an example.

Sweet Chantelle has a list of diagnoses, but her main need is a loving family! A family could help her reach her potential and save her from a life in a crib.

From a family who met her in fall 2013: Chantelle is mostly kept in a laying room although I did seen her out in the main groupa room laying down in a gated play area. I believe she can roll around. I saw her holding things in her hands as well. She has a calm, sweet spirit and I had her smiling in the first minute of seeing her. I touched her precious little face and told her I loved her and she smiled. The other kids seem to love her and they liked going into the laying room to take pictures of her with me. Chantelle so needs a family now! She won’t be kept at the baby house much longer. She is soooo beautiful, the pictures really don’t do her justice.

NEW PHOTO December 2016

What a cutie! And what a world of different a head of hair would make for her, she needs to be in pigtails!

Update March 2014: Very sweet and energetic little girl, eager to play and interact. She definitely has cognitive delays, and does not speak but functions within the preschool type setting classroom of her groupa. She communicates by pointing and making sounds. She appears to have something like hemiplegia CP affecting the right side of her body, causing a bit of a drag in her leg as she walks, and causing her arm to be stiff on that side as well. She’s a happy little girl and very cute.

From a family who met him Nov 2018: Shaw is a very loving boy who desperately wants a family. He hugged us repeatedly asking, “Mama, America? Papa, America?”

He speaks well, enjoys painting, and can walk with some need for support. He sweetly pushes his friend’s wheelchair and it offers stability for him and assistance for his friend. He’s been raised amongst boys much older than him and has picked up swear words but truly is a beautiful soul. He became jealous of our attention when we were talking with his younger roommate and he bit him. The facilitator would like us to note that he has a family history of mental illness and that his family should consider this in their decision. We are head over heals for this boy and honestly would have brought him home without hesitation were we approved for another adoption. Every adoptive family would be wise to consider trauma-informed parenting and to anticipate both aggression and mental illness. Please, consider whether you could be Shaw’s mama and papa.

He is so sweet, but can be a kind of “difficult” – strong-willing and stubborn. He is a smart boy. He wants to be adopted and asks to find a family for him. At the same time he will choose if he likes a family. I would recommend him to a family with older children – older than him, to show a way to behave. He may be very helpful and careful. I often can see him helping other kids with worse disabilities as he has. But he can lose his temper fast. He has mental delays. His biological mother is qualified as mentally disabled due to her schizophrenia.

The dynamic duo – here come Rowan and Reisen. Their smile can light up a room and they are certain to win you over with their little boy charm. Both love cars and chocolate. Rowan has been hosted before last summer; Reisen just recently arrived at the orphanage. Both boys have some developmental delays, but are teacher’s favorites. Rowan has grown leaps and bounds since he was last hosted in the US, in every way possible.

Rowan: Loves cars, Happy & Playful, Speech delays; Reisen: Outoging lil bro, Artistic explorer, Friendly

From Dec 2016:
They appeared to be very hyper, having serious behavioral issues and mental delays. They changed families during hosting program because first hosting family couldn’t handle them.

Their sister can be adopted separately from them but adoptive family needs to have approval for three children in order for us to be able to separate them. She lives in a different orphanage from them.

Kanani has been transferred!

Lovely Kanani needs a family to help her reach her full potential.

From a family who met her in May 2012: Kanani is very sweet girl. She is well cared for in a good orphanage by caring nannies. She gets lots of outside time when it’s warm out but this time is spent lying down in the stroller as she can’t sit on her own. She can hold on to your fingers and seems to just love to have attention although with her eye troubles it is difficult for her to respond. She likes to have her cheek stroked and her hand held. She is quite stiff and in need of physiotherapy and most of all love and attention.

Katerina has been living at an institution for quite some time.

Improved nutrition, and a loving, encouraging family will make a big difference for this little girl!

Update June 2016: He is non-verbal and was in a laying room most of the time, but last summer he went to camp and spent 10 days free. He apparently came alive at camp. He’s a sweet sweet little guy. He was walking and interacting at camp. His diagnosis is autism/speech issues and mental delay.

He has been transferred to the adult mental institution. He needs out NOW.