Malia

Description

If you have questions or want to know more about this child, please email us at secondchanceinfo@wiaa.org. Please do NOT send us your homestudy until we request it.

Meet 9-year-old Malia! She was adopted through the US foster system by a single mom with 5 other adopted daughters. Malia’s sisters are 18, 15, 15, 13, and 7. Malia is finishing up the third grade in her local public school. Since her adoption, Malia has struggled with attachment to her adoptive mom. She wants all of her mom’s attention and doesn’t like sharing with all of her sisters. Malia’s mom has realized that Malia needs more one-on-one attention than she can give with six children. She thinks Malia would thrive as the youngest in a two-parent home or with a single mom with no other children.

Malia is very smart and athletic and does well in school. She is social and energetic and makes friends easily. She excels at sports and currently does dance and Taekwondo. Last year she was on the swim team and did very well. She would like to try out a soccer or basketball team and would also enjoy doing gymnastics. She enjoys riding her bike and playing outside—unless there are a lot of bugs. Bugs are NOT her favorite!

When inside, Malia enjoys drawing, painting, and sometimes writing in her journal. She creates things out of Legos and has a couple of stuffed animals that are precious to her. She enjoys playing card games and board games, but like most kids, she loves getting screen time! Her favorite games are Roblox and Minecraft. She enjoys shows on Disney+ like Spy Kids and Victorious.

Malia can be a picky eater at times, but her favorite foods are chicken nuggets with fries, ramen noodles with mild buffalo sauce, and spaghetti and meatballs. Malia enjoys being comfortable and often lounges around in a sweatshirt and sweatpants—though she will also wear a little make up and likes having her nails done.

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.