Cole and Nevaeh

Nevaeh and Cole are a darling sibling group. They are very bonded to each other as they have lived together all but 9 months of their lives. They like to play together, although like with all kids their age, they sometimes have to be reminded to play cooperatively.

Cole has a twin brother, for whom DHS is planning to be adopted separately due to his special needs.

Nevaeh is a petite young girl with shoulder-length light brown hair and glasses. She has a bubbly, upbeat personality which is contagious. She loves to laugh and be silly.

Nevaeh is the type of person who rarely gets angry. She almost always tends to find the bright side of situations. She is the "pleaser" who yearns for adult attention and she can be very creative in her efforts to get the attention she craves. She also likes to be helpful, asking her caretaker for jobs to do around the house. Her favorite job is to do the dishes.

In her leisure time, Nevaeh is very creative and enjoys all types of art. She also loves dancing, playing with dolls or playing dress-up. She is easy to entertain and can also be very content to play by herself. Being outside is a favorite past-time for Nevaeh and it is a place where she expends all of that bubbling energy she has.

Cole is a young boy, much smaller than his peers. He is adorable as a fair-haired child peering from his light-framed glasses.

He is a very sensitive and caring child who is affectionate and loyal with people he knows well. He tends to be more "slow-to-warm-up" than his sister, preferring she take the lead in social situations. He needs time to get to know people before he'll open up and be himself.

Cole is creative and likes to try new things. He loves to cook and he helps his caretaker prepare dinner every evening. His favorite activity is to try new recipes. This one-on-one adult attention is very important to Cole, as he shares his sister's need for special attention. He also likes to be helpful around the house and doesn't mind helping with housework at all. He will often ask to fold laundry. This appears to be a "calming" activity for him.

Play for Cole involves putting together puzzles or Lego projects, which surprisingly can hold his concentration for more than an hour. He also likes to play outside, riding on his scooter. They miss their brother and hope someday to see him again.

Cole is in the second grade. He likes to pay attention to many things going on in the classroom and he has a hard time filtering out all of those distractions. He needs reminders to stay on task. He needs help to manage the stimulation if a lot is going on. Right now he loves school, as the small class size is just right for him.

Nevaeh is in the 3rd grade. She has to work the hardest at reading. She is making steady progress in this area, but her peers are still ahead of her a bit.

It has been determined by professional staffing that their brother would function in a healthier way if he was raised in a separate home from Cole and Nevaeh. Cole and Nevaeh miss their brother very much and it is important to them that they stay connected. It will be important that their adoptive parents find this important too.

Cole, Nevaeh and their brother do live a distance apart, so contact has not been easy. They are hoping that a contact plan can be made through mediation. Changes are hard for him and they need to be introduced slowly. If he gets surprised by a change, he can decide to not show helpful behavior. He also may act younger than he is or pull away from the situation in order to calm himself. Cole can also get rowdy, leading to behavior only he thinks is funny. Gentle adjustment of the stimulation environment usually does the trick for settling him down.

Nevaeh seems to focus better when she has a specific activity to occupy her time. Nevaeh is also very tactile, enjoying the physical touch of everything in her environment. Around new adults, she will be quiet at first but she quickly warms up, often evolving into hugging people. They are both working on improving their social skills, reducing their anxieties and confidently stepping into new experiences.

Cole and Nevaeh need an adoptive parent who understands and is experienced in managing children with sensory integration issues. The most successful parent for Cole and Nevaeh is one who will know the balance between being physically and mentally active and quieting down the world so that emotions stay healthy. The children need the comfort of a predictable routine and a patient adoptive parent.

They need daily reminders that they are loved, accepted and have a solidly committed adoptive family so there won't be any more disruptions in their living situation. They need to receive comfort and acceptance for the significant losses of their birth family and their foster family which will happen through adoption.

A family with a commitment to maintaining connections between Cole and Nevaeh and their attachments will set this adoptive placement up for success. For this family, they will receive the most loving and loyal reward from two very adorable children.

Bulletin OR13219

Michael

Michael is an articulate and well-spoken boy, with impressive conversational skills and a pleasant sense of humor. He's a kind-hearted child who likes to help and does nice things for others.

Michael has been growing by leaps and bounds and has absolutely turned his behavior around in school. He is doing fabulously well academically and behaviorally, and has been discovered to be a math whiz! Now in seventh grade, he is fully engaged in his school work and his current behavior clearly enhances his learning. Michael has even made his own behavioral charts, which he uses for self-evaluation; he is clearly taking ownership of his behavioral goals. Michael is now turning in all of his homework and is steadily building his writing skills. He met all of his special education goals from last year during his first semester this year.

Some of his other special interests are music, writing poetry, and glass blowing. He eats breakfast and lunch with his glassblowing teachers in their studio and has sixth period with them as well. It would be absolutely wonderful if the family chosen to adopt Michael lives in proximity to his current school so that he could continue there until he graduates from high school. The mentoring he has received from his teachers and others has given him such a huge boost forward. They just love Michael!

An articulate boy with impressive language and conversational skills, Michael is doing very well, too, in his foster home where he continues to grow emotionally and behaviorally. He is also developing musical skills as a drummer. At one concert where he played, he received accolades and praise. The performance gave him a wonderful sense of accomplishment and was a great source of pride. The family chosen to adopt Michael will need to make sure that he has many more opportunities for success. Among Michael's favorite pastimes are riding his bike, playing video games, and playing imaginary games in the backyard.

Legally free, Michael requested an out-of-home placement for himself. He longs to be adopted and has told his social worker that he would especially like to have a dad. He says, "A single dad would be great!" Michael came into foster care with symptoms of past trauma, as well as feelings of sadness and being overwhelmed. Michael continues to work on these issues in counseling, and on developing his social skills.

It is likely that Michael will need to have counseling supports in place, at least on an as-needed basis for the foreseeable future. Being willing to participate with Michael in family counseling during his transition into his adoptive family would be a wonderful way for his adoptive parent(s) to show their love and commitment to him. It would also show that they value using such resources to help family members heal past hurts and develop their full potential. Michael could also benefit from working with a behavioral therapist on further developing tools and strategies to help him cope in healthy ways. A high level of supervision helps Michael stay on track.

Due to his greater than average need for parental time and attention, Michael really needs to be the youngest child by more than a few years or an only child in his adoptive home. It will be important for his adoptive parent(s) to have a very good grasp of how chronic neglect and physical abuse can impact a child's sense of well being and safety, as well as his emotional, social, and behavioral development.

Bulletin WA130

Seth

Seth is a pretty amazing boy who is happy and positive despite the daily challenges of his medical special needs. Talk about resilience, strength, and tenacity! Seth, whose health has improved dramatically since moving from a prior home setting to his current medical foster family, has the potential to live a long and relatively healthy, high-quality life in a caring, nurturing adoptive family who will provide the experiences he needs to broaden his horizons and who will meet his medical needs with love and competency.

Seth loves to interact with adults and with other children at home and at school. As his health and stamina steadily improved over the several months, he was delighted to be able to spend more time in his Kindergarten classroom each day. One area of strength Seth clearly demonstrated in the classroom was his good memory skills. Outgoing and verbal, Seth's voice and speech are nearly normal, and he makes good eye contact. He loves to joke and poke fun, play games, and laugh.

While Seth cannot walk, his electric wheelchair gives him mobility and a nice sense of independence. Because Seth's condition and the circumstances in his prior placement resulted for so long in limited environmental and life experiences, he has some developmental delays. Once again, though, he is showing good progress and that he is capable of continued growth.

His mild social delays are responding well to his new experiences on the home front, at school, and in counseling. To treat his medical special needs, Seth remained hospitalized for several weeks following his birth. When he came into the foster care system, he was placed with the foster family which had previously adopted one of his brothers. In 2007, that foster family became a guardianship placement for Seth.

In late 2010 when the guardianship was terminated, Seth was successfully placed in his current medical foster home, where he has settled in very nicely and is doing remarkably well. The family chosen for Seth will need to participate in a highly specific training period to learn to manage his daily care needs which includes twice weekly bathing and total body dressing changes. This can take up to three hours. Some bandages, such as those for his hands, are changed daily or as needed.

The time commitment varies with his condition but can take up to an hour. If you are parent(s) who want to claim this resilient and happy boy as your own, and who have the time and attention needed to meet his special needs, please call soon. Having some knowledge of or being willing to learn about the extremely rare and serious genetic skin condition, called Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB) would be a great help.

Bulletin WA664

Asher

Asher is a delightful young boy with an infectious smile and a zest for life. He has a twin brother and a sister whom will be adopted separately from him so that he can get everything he needs from an adoptive parent. Asher is a very special boy who needs a very special adoptive parent just for him.

Asher loves to have fun and to learn new things. He is very proud of the fact he has recently learned how to play chess.

For Asher, music also holds a very special place for him. He is currently learnng how to play the autoharp. He loves to sing and dance taking in every sweet sound as if it were a part of him. Asher likes the arts as a whole and he also has a talent for drawing. Like most boys his age, he likes to be outdoors and needs ample opportunities to move his body. He has played soccer and basketball but he also enjoys just running in the park or going to activity centers where they have active things like bounce houses.

Asher has a great sense of humor and he thinks he is pretty funny most of the time. He is always ready to tell the latest joke. He'll enjoy the stage as long as his audience is up for it.

His favorite activities are playing with Leggos or putting together puzzles and he has a very long attention span when he is engrossed in such a project.

It has been determined by professional staffing that Asher would function in a healthier way if he was raised in a separate home from his siblings. Asher misses his siblings very much and it is important to him that they stay connected. It will be important that their adoptive parents find this important too.

Asher thrives on routine and consistency. He tends to be resistant to the smallest change in his day and will respond emotionally to these changes. He depends on his caretakers to give him the comforting boundaries and predictability which he needs to be assured that his environment is safe.

Asher connects easier with men although he has established a positive, supportive relationship with his foster mother. One-on-one time is very important for him and necessary for his self confidence, attitude and feelings of security. He puts in an amazing effort into making friends, playing nicely and being empathetic. Sometimes he misinterprets the behavior of others, wrongly thinking they are picking on him or do not like him. Asher does tend to listen to conversations intently and as a result, he understands much more than expected.

Asher needs an adoptive parent who understands and is experienced in managing children with special needs. The most successful parent for Asher is one who also thrives on a quiet routine and structure in life.

Asher needs daily reminders that he is loved, accepted and that he has a solidly committed adoptive family so that he won't have any more disruptions to his living situation. He will need extra support around the loss of his biological relatives which will occur as a result of adoption.

A family with a commitment to maintaining connections between Asher and his brother & sister will be important to Asher's sense of identity. In addition, Asher will need an adoptive parent who will implement creative alternative communication methods and someone who is dedicated and proactive in accessing professional and medical services to address present and future needs. It is likely that Asher will need continued interventions in order to reach his full potential. For just the right adoptive parent, Asher will prove to be a sweet son who loves his new parent unconditionally and with abandon.

Bulletin OR13217

Dominick and Isaac

Due to family contacts, it would be best if they stay in Northwest.

Dominick and Isaac are two very bonded siblings who need an adoptive family together. Dominick is a delightful, gentle, and confident young man with an infectious personality. He is always ready to laugh. He is very mature for his age and likes to take care of his brother. He knows what he wants and isn't shy about communicating his needs.

Dominick gets along with everyone and makes friends easily. One thing that Dominick always wanted to do was play school sports, but he has never been in a place where that was available to him. He is also quite adept at the Wii and is always up for a game of Mario, Wii Sports or Wii Dance. In addition, Dominick loves to cook. He makes his own breakfast and likes to experiment with recipes.

Isaac is a really fun, affectionate guy, although when he meets someone, he is initially very shy. Once he knows and trusts a person, he is wonderfully affectionate, charming and sweet.

Isaac is also very generous. He is constantly "donating" his toys or giving his things away to those he cares about. Isaac was a little slower than Dominick in meeting his developmental milestones, which has enabled his caretakers to enjoy the little boy in him so much longer. He loves to play with his Matchbox cars and the other collections he accumulates. He also loves to use his imagination to spin a grand story, as he captivates his audience. Isaac is a great helper around the house too. Most of all, Isaac is a cuddle-bug, a delightful little boy waiting for "forever" arms.

In April, 2010, Dominick and Isaac were placed with another foster home and their brother was placed separately with a relative. The boys had some challenges in adjusting to the new home, but they have continued to enjoy generous contact with their extended biological relatives including their little brother. This has made life much easier for the boys. They always thought that a relative would be able to adopt them, but it hasn't worked out that way for them. Dominick, in particular wants so badly to be wanted and adopted. The boys need to belong, and to invest in a family of their very own.

Dominick and Isaac are doing well in school and they earn grades comparable to their peers most of the time. During big transitions, Dominick's grades take quite a slump. He tends to not give school the attention it deserves when his mind is on other important things. He is very easily distracted and at times can be the class clown to get attention. He will also rush through homework, often times receiving poor marks for simply not doing the work. Psychological testing determined that Dominick's cognitive abilities were inconsistent. He tested in the borderline range for non-verbal skills and average abilities in verbal skills but the evaluator expects these scores were as a result of anxiety.

Further testing for specific learning disabilities will be something an adoptive parent will want to seek for Dominick. Isaac likes everything about school, but like his brother, he is also easily distractable and likes to gain attention in the classroom. He has a hard time remembering things, frequently forgetting his homework at school. His frustration tolerance is also shorter than Dominick's. Dominick and Isaac's little brother has always lived with his now foster mom, previously their Aunt's domestic partner. Today, at least once a month, Dominick, Isaac and their little brother spend the weekend together, either at their Aunt's home or with their little brother's foster mom.

They know their cousins well and attend holidays, birthdays and celebrations together. This time together helps them to feel connected. It will be very important to Dominick and Isaac to have regular contact with their brother. Visits with their birth mother concluded in the Spring of 2011. Contact was always a little chaotic and often times the kids would come home in an emotional puddle. Visits between the boys and their two Aunts, cousins and brother are very important to Dominick and Isaac. They enjoy these weekends but also enjoy returning to the comfort of their daily routine.

There has been a lot of family interested in parenting the boys, but these potential placements never worked out, which has been particularly disappointing for Dominick. Mediation will be offered to the biological mother, the Aunts, the cousins, and the adoptive parents. A successful adoptive family for these boys will make a commitment to contact between Dominick, Isaac and their brother, and seriously consider a contact agreement with the other relatives. Even though Dominick is an even-tempered guy, he can be an opportunist and benefits from adult guidance.

Dominick has also had troubles at school with not listening, being resistive to directions, and distractible. Because he is more mature than most kids his age, he is able to have a constructive conversation about his behavior and make adjustments. Dominick also has issues with food. At times, he is not in the mood to eat or he decides he doesn't like anything offered at meals. This pickiness has lead to power struggles around food. An adoptive parent who can creatively weave his love for cooking into the joy of food would really help Dominick.

Isaac has an unpredictable side to him. Sometimes, he doesn't communicate well what he is feeling or thinking about which may be causing him anxiety. Being sensitive, Isaac has big feelings about things. He has had periodic tantrums over what might seem a simple issue, and he can outlast most adults with his protests. The best remedy for Isaac is time alone and then reassurance with cuddling or rocking. Isaac has problems with anxiety, especially in regards to any change, even a change in the route driven to school.

There are many supportive measures the foster parent has put into place to make sure Isaac's anxieties don't come up unexpectedly. Isaac also has nightmares at times. With time, maturity and the security of an adoptive family, Isaac will learn that he is safe. A successful adoptive family will intuitively be able to reach his loving, sweet nature and nurture it to it's fullest.

Dominick and Isaac need a parent or parents who will put them first. They need the security of knowing their adoptive family will love them unconditionally and will gently help them to mature in how they deal with stress. A parent or parents who have enduring patience, are good communicators and excellent advocates, and who want the joy of parenting active older boys would be the best fit for Dominick and Isaac.

The boys also need to know they won't lose connection to their brother, and to the people who mean the most to them. They would do best with active parents who enjoy new experiences and get outdoors to "play". These boys would do well as the only children, or in a home filled with children. They could fit into a variety of family lifestyles and configurations. They are very adaptable that way. Dominick and Isaac are really ready for a home they know they'll never have to leave.

Bulletin OR13242