WASHINGTON CHILDREN

Joshua is a neat boy. Among his strengths are his charming personality, great sense of humor, and the capacity to be very compassionate. He is also very intelligent, and math and science are favorite subjects. Now is fifth grade, Joshua benefits greatly from having encouragement and supports at school and on the home front to realize his academic potential. Joshua’s really into sports, especially soccer, which is a good way for him to focus his high energy in good ways. He also enjoys playing interactive games with his foster family. Creating art and drawing are not only are fun for him, they are also therapeutic tools that help him to deal with feelings.

Individual and group counseling activities are also helping him to own up to his anger and to his deep feelings of grief, loss, and he is learning how to turn his behavior around, especially when he has an attentive adult nearby to redirect him when he gets off track and provide encouragement and incentives to support his positive efforts.

Previously, Joshua has a younger brother Matthew (see WA871). While their social worker wants to hear from prospective adoptive families interested in adopting one or the other child, she is also very interested in hearing from experienced families interested in both boys who have the time and the patience to provide the high level of supervision they both require for the foreseeable future. If separated, the boys will be counting on their respective adoptive families to help them maintain contact with each other.