c6106

Child's name: Joshua
Number: C6106
Birthdate: 5/97
State: Washington
Listed: 12/05, Updated 11/07

View: Wednesday's Child video for Joshua
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If you have completed an adoption homestudy and would like to have your information forwarded to this child's worker, contact us.

Legally free, JOSHUA (5/97) is a charming young man who has excellent communication skills. He really enjoys writing and hopes to be an author one day. He has already written some great short stories. Some of his favorite pastimes are listening to music, playing video games, performing magic tricks and enjoying pizza and a movie on Friday night. His favorite cartoon character is Garfield and just like Garfield his favorite food is definitely lasagna.

Overall, Josh is happy, affectionate, loving boy who is learning that there are healthy choices available to him that can replace his old coping behavior that isn’t meeting his needs any more. Josh seems to have weathered much of his early childhood by assuming attitudes and behaviors of “self-survival.” His goals include making better personal and social choices for himself, increasing his social skills with kids, and strengthening his boundaries. While he still gets frustrated easily, he’s moving forward. With the right folk(s) in his corner and good therapeutic support, he will be successful. Josh’s worker says that he has “great potential!”

Josh has made huge gains, especially over the past couple of years, in his current foster home and mental health counseling program. Those that know him best really feel he will benefit from a family and therapeutic team who can continue to help him increase his self-esteem and encourage him to build relationships with adults and peers. With some encouragement from significant adults in his life, Josh has been actively participating in team sports and has done very well. It appears to be a great avenue to assist Josh with peer relationships. Josh’s greatest social strength is in working with younger children.

In school, Josh is at grade level or above academically, with behavioral supports in a mainstream class. He is reading on a seventh grade level and enjoys the Harry Potter books. Due to a learning disability his current school has found that having him type school work instead of writing it has greatly improved his academic performance. Regular parental contact with his school helps keep Josh on track.

While it would be helpful for Josh’s adoptive folk(s) to have a good grasp of how neglect and lack of supervision amidst parental substance abuse and domestic violence can interfere with a child’s sense of safety and social and behavioral development, the key to Josh’s success will be his adoptive family’s parenting style. Most of the progress Josh has made has been due to his current foster parents’ skills and experience. They have been able to depersonalize his anger and handle his outbursts in calm, patient ways wherever they occur; they use natural consequences and opportunities to encourage him to make healthy choices and behavioral changes (instead of lecturing); and they provide in-depth information and explanations following misbehavior and/or parent-child disagreements.

While Josh has been exposed to Christian beliefs, he would like to have the choice of whether or not to attend weekly church services. He has also been exposed to a variety of cultures and ethnicities through his school and community, and some of his past foster families.

To support his progress, his worker will be selecting an adoptive family willing and able to travel to Josh’s current placement to meet him and spend several days with him over the course of a month prior to transitioning to his adoptive home. At some point it may also be helpful for Josh to participate in family counseling with his chosen adoptive family. Because of the travel issue and need to set up immediate and specific services for Josh’s success, recruitment is being limited to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Utah at this time.

Subsidy and Purchase of Service may be available.

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