Gracie

Description

Meet Gracie! She is 9 years old and was adopted internationally when she was five. She is currently a third grader in her local public school. Gracie lives with her older adoptive parents and their two biological sons who are 17 and 14 years old. When the family was matched to Gracie, they were under the impression that she had “mild and correctible” behaviors. Since adopting her, they have realized she has actual cognitive deficits that they weren’t expecting. Gracie is emotionally more immature than her chronological age, and they feel that at their age, they aren’t prepared to parent her long-term. They also feel they spent the early years with her establishing routine, teaching her language, and helping her adapt but missed the opportunity to snuggle her and foster attachment. She seems unhappy with them, so they are hoping to find a family who understands her needs and is able to love and support her. They are hoping to find a catholic family, though this isn’t an absolute requirement. They are open to all family types as well as single parents. We ask that Gracie be the youngest in the home by at least 2 years (so no children under the age of 11).

When Gracie is content, she is pleasant and playful. She loves to be a “helper” and enjoys doing tasks alongside of an adult. She can be silly and fun-loving. Gracie loves art and coloring. She is great at sketching pictures and molding things out of clay. She likes watching movies and tv shows. Gracie loves all animals and would probably love living in a family with many pets.  Gracie is very friendly and likes making new friends at school and on the playground. She prefers playing indoors, but has recently shown some interest in playing basketball.

Gracie loves all things pink. While Gracie isn’t a picky eater, she has a deep love and appreciation for all things sweet. She has a tablet that she earns time on, and she likes playing educational games with it. When asked what she wants to be when she grows up, she says she hopes to marry someone who has a good job.

This is a private adoption, so a state or foster home study might not work. A private domestic homestudy is generally required. You will need to have a current, or easily-updated homestudy for this adoption. If your homestudy 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 homestudy agency or an adoption attorney to see if their homestudy 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 homestudy. Once you’re within three weeks of having a completed homestudy, 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.