c7188

Child's name: Nicholas "Nick"
Number: C7188
Birthdate: 8/95
State: Washington
Listed: October 2008

If you have completed an adoption homestudy and would like to have your information forwarded to this child's worker, contact us.

NICHOLAS (8/95), or Nick as he prefers to be called, is an avid reader who would likely read all day long if he could. Nick has good intelligence, and he is doing very well academically and behaviorally in the classroom now that he is attending an alternative school. He even seems to enjoy being at school. While Nick is about one grade level behind academically, he could catch up if he puts forth the effort this year. Nick also enjoys computers and is developing some good skills. Nick recently had his hair cut, which is the “in” thing now, and he seems to be carrying himself with more confidence. The hair cut also allows for a glimpse of his great smile now and then. Nick enjoys being outdoors, but does not have any desire to participate in sports.

Nick participates in counseling every other week, but he is tends to be very quiet and to keep things bottled up inside. Medication therapy has been used in the past when he has needed support in lessening his feelings of sadness. Nick does difficulty readily grasping that there are consequences for certain questionable actions, which puts him at a disadvantage when it comes to learning from experience. Because of his height (he is very tall for his age), Nick can be mistaken for an older teen; his emotional development, though, is that of a much younger preteen.

Nick, who is not yet legally free, came into foster care in April 2004. He continues to visit with his mother weekly. He also spends time with his maternal grandparents on occasional weekends. While they have provided care for Nick in the past, they are not a permanent resource.

Nick really needs adoptive folk(s) who not only have a good understanding of the tasks involved in adolescent development, but who also have had experience with young teens who have suffered loss and abandonment. Nick tends to sabotage efforts to reach out to him by refusing to participate in family activities and family life. Yet when there are older boys in the home, who do participate and who are social, he can be slowly drawn in. It is going to be essential for Nick’s new folk(s) to not take him behavior personally, but instead to see it as his way of armoring himself against further loss and abandonment.

Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.

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