c7465

Child's name: Kiersten
Number: C7465
Birthdate: 4/98
State: Oregon
Listed: July 2009

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

KIERSTEN (4/98) is a beautiful girl with a bright smile, long brown hair, and expressive brown eyes. She is right on target developmentally and enjoys good health. She will likely, though, need braces in the near future. Kiersten desires and needs a lot of attention and eagerly seeks it out from the adults around her.

Legally free, Kiersten came into foster care in June 2004. After living with two different relatives, Kiersten was placed with her current foster parents who at that time were therapeutic foster care providers. When Kiersten no longer needed that level of support, the foster parents chose to become licensed for regular foster care so that Kiersten could continue to live with them. While they have strong attachments to Kiersten, they are not able to be her adoptive family. They are, though, committed to keeping Kiersten in their home until an appropriate adoptive placement is found.

Kiersten continues to have therapeutic supports in place to help her sort through and deal with her feelings of grief, loss, and abandonment. She is also working on developing skills and strategies to better manage her feelings, strengthen her boundaries, and learn better personal safety skills. Kiersten tends to be a bit too outgoing and will talk to just about anyone. She also has a tendency to invade the physical space of others.

It would be a wonderful demonstration of love and commitment for her adoptive folks to participate with Kiersten in family counseling during the adoption transition. It would also underscore for Kiersten that her adoptive parent(s) value using such supports to help family members make changes and deal with painful issues from the past. Kiersten will likely benefit from having therapeutic supports in place for the foreseeable future on an as-needed basis to help her as she continues to deal with the loss of her birth family and her transition to a new family, school, and community.

Kiersten has four half siblings. Both her older sister and younger brother live some distance away, so visitations are not routine. She does, though, talks with her older sister on the phone every few months and writes her cards and letters. Her younger brother’s adoptive folks are supportive of such on-going contact, too. Kiersten also has two younger sisters, one on her maternal side and the other on the paternal side. At this time, Kiersten has not met either of those siblings but has expressed a strong desire to do so. Kiersten has also had weekly phone contact with her father who resides out of state; he also has supervised visits about four times a year. Kiersten has contact, too, with extended family via cards and letters. Because Kiersten will need to maintain theses significant connections, especially her siblings, the adoptive family chosen for her will need to be open to mediation.

Kiersten will thrive with adoptive parent(s) who have tons of patience, and who spends lots of time with her in family activities. A perfect match for Kiersten would be a family who enjoys having a bubbly and outgoing child who engages in animated conversations. Kiersten is a wonderful sibling and would do great in a home with younger or older children, but not same age kids – she has been overly competitive with same age foster siblings in her current home.

Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.

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