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Dan and Ryan
Utah

Basic Info

Dan

Age: 65
Sex:
Race/Ethnicity:
Religion:

Ryan

Age: 48
Sex:
Race/Ethnicity:
Religion:

Child Preferences

Age: Infant to 7 years old
Sex: Either
Max Number of Children: 2
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian, African American, Asian, Native American, Hispanic, Pacific Islander, Mixed, Bi-Racial

Special Needs the Family is Open To: Any Child, Animal Allergies, Asthma, Drug Allergies, Environmental Allergies, Food Allergies, Defiant, Difficulty Making Friends, Poor Social Skills, Stealing, Wets the Bed, Born with HIV issues or HIV Positive, Drug Addicted at Birth, Low Birth Weight or Premature, Prenatal Drug Exposure, Non-Ambulatory, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, Physically Disabled-Mild, Blind, Deaf, Hearing Impaired, Speech Delays - Mild, Speech Delays - Moderate, Vision Impaired, Academically behind due to poor attendance, Cognitive Delay - Mild, Has Behavior Problems in School, Mild Learning Disabilities, Moderate Learning Disabilities, Speech or Language Impairment, Suspension(s), One/Both Parents Diagnosed with Depression, One/Both Parents Have Alcohol Addiction, One/Both Parents Have Drug Addiction, One/Both Parents Diagnosed with Bipolar, Exposed to Domestic Violence, ADHD, AIDS, Arthritis, Diabetes, HIV, Missing Limbs: May Require Prosthesis, Depression, Requires Counseling/Therapy, Willing to Maintain Contact via Mail with Bio Family, Willing to Maintain Contact with Past Foster Parents, Willing to Maintain Contact with Bio Grandparents & Other Relatives, Willing to Maintain Contact with Bio Siblings, Child Identifies as LGBT

Environment

State: Utah
Neighborhood: Suburban
Residency: Single Family Home
Years Together: 13
Children in the Home: 1
Pet(s): Dog(s), cat(s), other

Work

Dan

Occupation: Advertising

Ryan

Occupation:

Adoption Agency

Agency: Utah Adoption Specialists
Worker: Lauren Andrews
Worker: lauren@utahadoptionspecialists.com
City: Provo
State: Utah
Zip: 84063

Preference Description

Our first concern is Ryker. He is very excited to have a sibling but has only one request... that he gets to be the older brother "cause he was here first"! I don't think we could take on a sexually abused child having Ryker here, but we are pretty open.

The Link Family Profile

We are looking to adopt a child between infant and 8 years old as our son really wants to be the big brother and we feel like there is someone or more that need to have a home and be loved. We would like to adopt either a boy or a girl. We feel we can accommodate a sibling group of up to 2 kids. Any ethnic background will blend in with our family. We are open to children with some special needs. We do not mind having contact with the child\'s biological parents (by email or by phone or by mail or in person ) provided the parent was/is not abusive to the child. We do not mind having continuing contact with the child\'s former foster parents, by email or by phone or by mail or in person *case by case). In general, our first concern is Ryker. He is very excited to have a sibling but has only one request... that he gets to be the older brother "cause he was here first"!

Introduction

Our names are Dan Link and Ryan Merrell-Link. I am currently 56 years old. My partner is currently 40 years old. We have one amazing child and would love to grow our family. Our child's name is Ryker and he is 9 years old. Like us, our child has a Caucasian ethnic background. Ryker is currently being tested for his Black Belt in TaeKwonDo and loves it! He also has played Soccer for two years. He has many friends and loves spending time with them as well. He reads well above his grade and is very social. Ryker has never met a stranger! Ryan is a miracle as he suffered from a brain anyurism six years ago and continues to beat the odds. He stays busy at home keeping the yard and house up to speed and does the daily car pool with the neighbors. Our garden is over producing as are the chickens! He is an amazing dad and the kids and neighbors all love him! Maybe it's because he shares his eggs and garden produce with them?! I stay busy with my job for the most part. After work is time spent with the family. On weekends we like loading up the motor-home and finding new place and new adventures together. We all enjoy the outdoors and exploring new places. We try to get to the Oregon coast at least once a year to enjoy the beaches and beautiful scenery! I work full-time for doing Advertising and have a flexible work schedule and am able to work from home. My partner is a stay-at-home parent and has a flexible work schedule. We do attend church here in our community with most of our neighbors. We have attended church's in various areas when we travel as well on occasion.

Our favorite TV show is America's Got Talent, but we don't see a lot of television as we usually have kids here or are working in the yard. Ryker loves most music and every kid movie that comes out. I am fortunate to be able to office out of our home. I do make my own schedule every week. Ryan works in the yards and keeps the house up and Ryker attends year round school. In the evening, we all eat dinner together as a family and it is not uncommon to have neighbor kids joining us! After dinner is bath time and then read a story and bed.

Home and Community

We live in the State of Utah. Our home is a single family home. We live in a Suburban neighborhood. We enjoy our neighbors. We have one awesome dog , and one crazy cat. We also have three chickens and a fish.

We love to go camping and exploring together in our Motor-home most weekends. We all have responsibilities to keep the house and yard up and take turns for an activity every Monday night (Family Night). Our goal is to create something fun to help us learn and grow, but especially to create fun and lasting memories. We are currently passing out flyers in our community for one of our neighbors who is running for a seat with our city (Great exercise). Ryker is taking swim lessons at our Recreation Center and TaeKwonDo and Soccer the last two years. We have Charter schools and public schools all around us. Currently Ryker attends the year round public elementary school and is entering fourth grade. We have been very happy with his school and teachers every year!

Parenting Experience

I feel as if we have done a pretty great job! Ryker is amazing and we are complimented often at what a great kid he is! We stay on top of his activities and try to be as involved as we can. We reinforce the positives and teach from the mistakes. We learn a lot from Ryker as well! He is smart, caring and very creative. I know having a sibling will only enhance and help him and us as a family too! We are positive people and have so much to be grateful for! We try to be good examples to others and help others when we can. We love being involved in our community and our extended families. We are open and willing to help our new family member with whatever we need to do? We have a proven track record with what Ryan went though to help him thorough all of his rehabilitation both past and present to get him where he is today! Again when Ryan feel ill and was hospitalized for three months, I had to train to learn to take care of him on my own. Thanks to our family and community, we survived and grew immensely! We must have done a good job as Ryan is thriving and healing and independent now, even driving!

Support

We have a hospital two miles away that we have had to go to for stitches on Ryker's chin recently? We are so blessed to have the best support system out there. When Ryan feel ill, our community, family and friends help a huge fund raiser to help us!

Motivation to Adopt

Our first preference would be to adopt someone younger than Ryker, we are open to any age younger to respect his wishes as well. To address the maintaining contact with family section, we would have to be informed more about them as we had some challenges with Ryker's birth family originally that we were able to come to a compromise on. It has improved! And to address the special needs section, we are open to discussion with that too! With all of Ryan's past health issues, we have found that we are pretty tough and can get through most anything! It made us much stronger and deeper than ever before and we are grateful for having learned the lessons from it!