c7478-79

Child's name: Addides and Lorenzo
Number: C7478-79
Birthdate: 10/04 and 3/98
State: Washington
Listed: July 2009

Photographs by Yuen Lui

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

ADDIDES (10/04) and LORENZO (3/98) are counting on being adopted together. Addides, who is fondly known as Didi, and Lorenzo, whose nickname is Reno, need to grow up together in the same family. Reno has always been a loving, big brother to Didi, and she has a strong bond with him. Legally free, Didi and Reno came into foster care in March 2006.

Didi appears to be a happy and bright little girl who is blossoming in foster care. She thrives on one-on-one attention from significant adults in her life. While she currently engages mostly in parallel play, she is in the process of developing her social and emotional skills. Didi is a fan of the Disney Channel, and especially anything to do with Hannah Montana and Disney’s various princesses. Reno is a gentle, quiet, sensitive boy who continues to respond very well to safe, nurturing foster care that provides a very predictable daily routine. In such homes, he has been able to feel safe and to form trusting relationships with two different sets of foster parents. This shy, caring boy has made friends among his classmates and peers and is well like by his teachers, who see has as a bright child with potential.

Since entering foster care, Didi has shown a great deal of potential when given appropriate resources to overcome many of the effects of the early neglect she experienced. She is doing especially well in her current foster home where there is structure, a predictable, consistent daily routine, and clear rules, expectations, and limits. Another plus is that she does not have to compete for parental time and attention. Medication is no longer being used to try to manage her behavioral symptoms of high energy and attention difficulties but there are other therapeutic resources to help her, which include play and art therapies and therapeutic preschool. They have given her a big boost forward in expressing feelings in words instead of acting them out and developing her motor skills. She continues to work on catching up to peers socially and emotionally. While primarily potty trained, Didi still experiences a few accidents.

Reno has grown by leaps and bounds since coming into foster care with the support of foster parents and therapeutic supports. While he has not had counseling since moving to his present foster home in late 2008, his worker is setting up resources to help him develop tools and strategies to increase his ability to cope with frustration and disappointments. His greatest struggle is to not withdraw when he is stressed. For the 2009-2010 school year Reno will be in a regular sixth-grade classroom. He benefited this past year from having tutoring which helped him to work at grade level and provided emotional supports.

Having adoptive parents who understand how early neglect and trauma and impact a child’s sense of well being, sense of safety, and development will be very important. Didi needs parents able and willing to participate with her in a wraparound service program which includes various therapeutic resources and preschool. Reno needs parents able to maintain a nurturing, predictable environment where he can feel safe and secure.

Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.

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