Waiting Wednesday: Penny

Penny is the sweetest 8 year old who is in need of a forever family to call her own! Penny has the greatest giggle and the brightest smile. Penny has been in the care of Sarah’s Covenant Homes for the past 4 years and although she is receiving great care she needs a family that is willing to call her their daughter and give her unconditional love.

Penny’s official age is 8 but we believe that she might be a year or two younger. She is small for her age, which might be due to malnutrition or related to her genetic syndrome. We are unsure of Penny’s official diagnosis but several guesses we have are Rubinstein–Taybi syndrome, Angelman Syndrome, or some other genetic condition potentially coupled with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Penny is also profoundly deaf and wears glasses.

Penny’s joints hyperextend but with extensive physical therapy and leg braces we have

Penny practices standing several times a day 

seen some improvement with her ability to weight bear. She started crawling in the Fall of 2017 and now crawls all over her house. She recently started taking steps when supported at the waist and her physical therapist thinks she will be ready for a gait trainer soon. Now that Penny is on the move she loves to crawl and find her favorite things! Penny loves to find cups that have something in them and is known for her ability to find the one cup in the whole house that has water in it. She will pull up to kneeling to get a cup on a table and has even pulled over a whole mop bucket in her quest to find water! Penny also loves the color green and her favorite toys are green. She doesn’t have good play skills but will entertain herself for hours with her favorite green toys.

Although Penny loves everyone she is attached to “her people”. Recently when her long time caregiver was out of town and myself and her other house mom where out of town to attend a conference she was upset for the 3 days when we were all gone. When we got back she wanted to be hugged and picked up and would cry every time we put her down. Even if she cannot speak she is well aware of the comings and goings of everyone and would thrive in a family with a consistent routine. Penny is currently learning to communicate through picture symbols. She uses pictures squares and was recently introduced to the Ipad where she is learning with the same picture symbols. We tried sign language for a while but she never caught on so we switched over to picture symbols and she does much better! She will use the pictures to request more of an activity and could so much more with consistent speech therapy.

Penny loves to play with shaving cream

Penny has also started to feed herself with her hands and she loves to eat! One of the few times Penny gets upset is if her mealtimes are late. She is drinking out of an open cup with assistance and Penny loves to drink milk, water, and juice. Some of Penny’s other favorite activities besides eating are swinging, going for walks, attending class with her teacher, playing with sensory materials especially water beads, and finding green toys.

Whenever I think of Penny the word joy comes to mind. Penny is the most joy filled child I have ever met. She has a joy that supersedes her circumstances. And she would bring such joy to a family! It will not be an easy journey for her family, Penny will need life long care and there will be challenges, but Penny is a child that helps you find joy in the ordinary and laughter in the mundane task of brushing teeth or changing a shirt. Penny loves to be on the go and would do great in an active family who was willing to put her in a stroller and bring her along on their adventures and everyday tasks. I have known Penny for the past 3 years and it is heavy on my heart currently to find her a family that will love her and encourage her as she grows. She may not be able to verbalize her want for a family but she will thrive in a family and bring joy to a family she can call her own.

Family Requirements

• Available to both single women and married couples between the ages of 25-55. Married couples must be married for a minimum of 2 years and couples with more than 1 divorce are considered on a case-by-case basis. Married couples combined ages should not be more than 110.
• No more than 4 children already in the home (Penny could be the 5th child)
• Adoptive parents should be more than 25 years older then the child they are adopting. (This requirement can be relaxed on a case by case basis)
• Cost is between $30,000-$40,000 but there are grants and other ways to fundraise to defray the costs associated with her adoption.
• The process can take between 18-24 months but recently the process has been speeding up and families are getting kids home faster
• Either 2 shorter trips or 1 longer trip to her country is required to finalize her adoption and bring her home.

For more info about the requirements to adopt Penny please click here

For more info about Penny and to inquire about adopting her please visit her Reece’s Rainbow profile

Even if you can’t adopt Penny please share this blog post so that her family can find her! And please pray for a family to step up for Penny so that she can know the love of a forever family.