With his curly brown hair, big brown eyes, and dimpled smile, JEREMIAH (12/04) is a darling four-year-old who is legally free. While his first name is actually Stanley, everyone uses his middle name Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s energy and zest are plentiful and contagious. On the move from the moment he wakes up until the moment he falls asleep, he enthusiastically engages his environment every day. Jeremiah loves any activity that involves physical movement or tactile stimulation. He loves movement songs, such as "London Bridge is Falling Down," and tumbling and running activities. Toys that offers a tactile experience, such as rubber balls with nubs on the outside, or toys that vibrate are his favorites. He will not play with anything that is smooth. He loves being read to, but again is only interested in books that have texture incorporated in the story, such as Pat the Bunny, or are physically interactive with flaps or pull-tabs. Physically very affectionate, Jeremiah loves to cuddle and snuggle. He thrives on one-on-one attention from adults and can be easily calmed by rubbing his head. Jeremiah is also quite conversational and will happily chat with just about anyone for long periods of time.

Due to a positive drug screen at birth, Jeremiah was placed in foster care as soon as he left the hospital. He has been fortunate to have lived with the same foster family the entire time he's been in care. Jeremiah has nine older siblings, with whom he will want to have some contact as he is growing up. Jeremiah loves school and attends Head Start, where he enjoys a broad range of stimulating, structured activities and receives physical, occupational, and speech therapies. The inclusion of medication therapy several months ago has greatly improved his ability to control his impulsiveness and focus on tasks (as well as sleep through the night). His foster mom reports that even Jeremiah notices when his medication begins to wear off, and often requests his next dose. An alternative educational resource, Hand in Hand, which may be better suited to Jeremiah’s developmental stage and behavioral needs than Head Start, is being evaluated. It is likely that he will continue to need on-going therapeutic interventions, as well as individualized attention at school throughout his childhood.

A high level of structure, predictability, and familiarity in his daily routine is essential or Jeremiah easily becomes overwhelmed. He functions best when just a few toys or activities are available to him. He needs a lot of stimulation in order to stay focused and is prone to distraction and impulsiveness (he still wears a harness when riding the school bus so he doesn't wander around the bus while it's moving). He thrives on one-on-one attention and needs a good deal of physical guidance and reassurance from adults, as opposed to verbal guidance. Although capable of using the toilet, Jeremiah is so easily distracted that he's not often tuned into his body's signals and has frequent accidents. He currently wears diapers full-time.

Jeremiah has excellent receptive language skills but difficulty with pronunciation. He has a large vocabulary and often patiently makes several attempts to express an idea using different words but to no avail. He will finally get so stressed and frustrated that he will act out physically.

Jeremiah needs loving, committed parent(s) who have a good grasp of the underlying biological reasons for his developmental and behavioral issues, and who will be patient and loving in their efforts to manage and mold those challenges. His adoptive folks must be physically demonstrative of their love for Jeremiah because tactile connections are what are most reassuring to him. Jeremiah will do best as an only child or youngest of one of two older siblings so that he has the significant amount of individual parental attention he needs. Jeremiah also does best with large pets or no pets at all as he can be unintentionally quite rough. Jeremiah may be eligible for an adoption subsidy.


Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.