Samuel

Description

Meet Samuel! This special little guy is five years old and was adopted at age 2 from the US foster system. He lives with his adoptive parents and seven siblings (ages 23, 21, 19, 17, 12, 9, and 3). As you can imagine, his family is bustling! Samuel has severe autism and is non-verbal. His parents and two geneticists believed he had Angelman’s Syndrome, but two different genetic tests have NOT shown that diagnosis. However, if you read about the syndrome, it describes him perfectly. He receives all of his nutrition through a G-tube. Samuel can walk, run, and even jump on a little trampoline!

Since the day he came into this family, he hasn’t wanted much to do with his adoptive mom. She is his primary care giver, but he rejects her affection and attention. That coupled with his high needs and the needs of all the other children in the home, his parents feel he is not flourishing as he would in a smaller family that could focus more time on just him. They are open to all family types. They would just like his new family to have the bandwidth and time to invest in him and meet his needs. We ask that he be the youngest in his new home by at least 2 years.

Samuel is typically happy, easy-going, and compliant. He loves music and will dance and twirl for hours. He laughs a lot, which may be a form of stimming, but it’s a happy sound. Samuel’s favorite toys are ones that light up, spin, and vibrate. He loves the feeling of a vibrating toy next to his face. He will also play with string for long periods of time. While he is non-verbal, he is able to parrot words and phrases.

Samuel thrives being on a routine. He doesn’t love water, so showering isn’t his favorite activity, but he’s able to help get his own shirts on. He is content to play in the house and on concrete outside, but he does not like the feel of grass. Samuel doesn’t like having things in his mouth, so he won’t eat orally; however, he doesn’t have anything physiologically wrong that keeps him from eating. He receives 4 feedings a day via G-tube but doesn’t need feedings during the night.

This is a private adoption, so a state or foster home study might not work. A private domestic home study is generally required. You will need to have a current, or easily updated home study for this adoption. If your home study is current or you’re within 3 weeks of it being completed, feel free to inquire further. Our goal is to find a new, successful adoptive family for this child. We do not facilitate long-term respite care, nor do we allow for “trial periods” or visits between you and the child before the match is made and the child changes homes. By inquiring further, you are implying you have a desire to adopt, and not to offer other creative placement solutions.

Unless otherwise noted, we require that all of the children in our program be the youngest in their new family by at least two years. We ask that you honor this requirement and not ask us to bend the rules. These children need the chance to be the “baby” of the family and to receive much needed attention so they can attach and have a healthy start in their new home. When a sibling is close in age or younger than them, this will usually foster jealousy and competition which won’t lead to a successful placement. Thank you for understanding. If you are married, we also ask that you have been married for a minimum of 2.5 years before applying to adopt through our program.

Due to state laws, we are not able to place this child in CT, MA, NY, or DE. If you live in OR, you may need to travel to the child’s state to finalize this adoption or often finalization can be done virtually. If you live in WI, please let us know, as the adoption process may be longer and a bit more expensive than what is listed in our paperwork. NJ residents will need to check with their home study agency or an adoption attorney to see if their home study will work for this type of adoption. Some states are more work than others to get permission for the placement, and attorney fees are billed accordingly. If you live in AL, we will need a pre-placement meeting between the child’s parents and a social worker after you are matched to a child. This will be an additional cost to you.

If you have never had a home study before, we cannot help you adopt this child. However, we would love to share with you the process of starting a home study so you could be approved for a child in the near future. The easiest method is to Google “home study” and the name of your city. You can then call the agencies on that list and compare prices and timelines for getting a completed domestic home study. Once you’re within three weeks of having a completed home study, you can begin pursuing a match to one of our waiting children.

Grant Information: Many grant organizations have been very generous in giving grants to families adopting Second Chance kids. They like our program, and with international adoptions going down, domestic adoptions like ours receive a lot of attention. With this profile you are receiving, you also received a list of grant organizations.  These grants end up being a reimbursement for costs you have paid because you have to pay your adoption fees upfront. Keep track of all your receipts: agency fees, attorney fees, and travel fees, etc.. If you are approved (many, many families are), they will send the grant award to us, probably after you have the child home. We will ask you for your receipts, then we will send the funds to you.

If you are a U.S. citizen living overseas, we may be able to work with you depending on a few details. Please let us know your situation.

Adoption is a legal process so there will be costs associated. This adoption may qualify for the IRS Adoption Tax Credit.

Contact us at secondchanceinfo@wiaa.org.

*To protect the privacy of our waiting children and their families, Second Chance does not share real names for our waiting children on the Internet. It is our policy to only share a snippet of a waiting child’s details as well as the type of adoptive family we are looking for. If you fit the POSTED REQUIREMENTS, are home study ready (or can be soon!), and interested in adding this child to your family, please write to us for an honest, in-depth profile on the child including medical, educational, and behavioral information and learn the full story of why this child needs a secondary adoption. Our program social worker and program director have worked together with the child’s family to carefully set the requirements for the new family. These requirements are not negotiable, so please honor the needs of this child by not asking us to bend them for you.