Henriette loves music and sports
Sunday’s Child is a weekly column featuring a child currently in foster care awaiting adoption.
Henriette loves music and sports. The 16-year-old, who also goes by Henny, is originally from Central Africa and is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She is an active, funny, and caring girl, who can be patient and has strong motivation to learn new skills and work on goals.
Henny is also is very determined when she puts her mind to things. She speaks multiple languages, including English, French, and Swahili. She is talented at playing piano and is often proud to share that she has hyper flexibility in her hands. She has expressed an interest in karate, soccer, basketball, and all athletic games. She enjoys arts and crafts and making new creations.
Henny loves to be outside, engages in most outdoor activities, and is a great runner. She is interested in expanding her musical and sports skills and has been vocal at advocating for herself to develop these skills.
Henny is very inquisitive which is demonstrated by her ability to learn new things and desire to have new experiences. She has shown significant resilience in coping with her trauma history and building relationships with people at new placements. Additionally, Henny is a very curious and insightful child who asks many questions, and has become a great advocate for herself.
Henny benefits from accommodations granted by her IEP, which was put into place to support an emotional disability. She generally does well in school with specialized services in place in the classroom, which include highly structured, small-group instruction with clear expectations and consequences, tasks broken down into smaller parts, distractions limited, and on-site clinical support. Although Henny has now been in the United States for four years, she is classified as an English learner. She has some strong peer relationships in school and enjoys science and life skills classes.
Henny wants to be with a family who will care for her unconditionally and to live in a family setting where she can be active in an identified community and explore her interests. Her social worker is open to a warm, supportive, and trauma experienced family of any constellation preferably with children, older or younger. Henny will benefit from ample time to become familiar with family members prior to transition. Culture and religion are important to Henny, and she is currently in conflict between adopting Christian or Muslim faith, as various family members practice both religions.
She will need a family that is open and able to support her continuous exploration of her religious and cultural identity. Henny also loves animals and would enjoy being a part of a family with pets. Henny’s future family must be open to continued contact, including visits, with her biological family (mostly in Central Massachusetts).
Can I adopt?
If you’re at least 18 years old, have a stable source of income, and room in your heart, you may be a perfect match to adopt a waiting child. Adoptive parents can be single, married, or partnered; experienced or not; renters or homeowners; LGBTQ+ singles and couples. As an adoptive parent, you won’t have to pay any fees, adoption from foster care is completely free in Massachusetts.
The process to adopt a child from foster care includes training, interviews, and home visits to determine if adoption is right for you. These steps will help match you with a child or sibling group that your family will fit well with.
To learn more about adoption from foster care visit www.mareinc.org . Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) can give you guidance and information on the adoption process. Reach out today to find out all the ways you can help children and teens in foster care.