Adam, born July 9, 1985, and his sister Adrienne, born Jan. 23, 1990, need a family to help them overcome some of the effects of early abuse and neglect.
Adam is a happy, friendly and loving fellow. He has a vivid imagination and enjoys the older children at school and at home. In first grade last year, Adam did average work with help from the resource class teacher. Speech therapy is teaching him to talk more clearly. He'll need some help with his fine motor skills, too.
Adam is pretty insightful about his life situation and is learning to talk about his feelings rather than act them out. When he does get angry or feels unsure about things, his foster mom has discovered that talking to him about why he's angry and telling him that he's loved works best. Adam takes medication to help even out his mood swings.
Adrienne seems to have more developmental problems than her brother but is making slow, steady progress. She gets along well with everyone and is a loving and lovable little girl. Adrienne has severe
speech delays but can say Mama, no, Adam and a few other words. She is just starting to walk and will need speech and occupational therapy.
She was a "failure to thrive" baby and it was thought that she had a metabolic disease. Now doctors aren't sure about their diagnosis and suspect that her problems may have been related to her environment.
Anglo two-parent families and single moms will be considered for Adam and Adrienne. Their social worker would like them to be the only or youngest children in the family. Financial assistance is available to cover some of the costs of raising these two active youngsters.
Editor's note: Every week the Deseret News profiles a special-needs child available for adoption through the Rocky Mountain Adoption Exchange. An estimated 35,000 children are considered "special needs" because they are from an ethnic minority, disabled, older or hard to place because there are several siblings who need to be placed together. Anyone interested in a child may call the exchange at 359-7700.