Syriana is an energetic 10-year-old Hispanic girl who loves to be active. She describes herself as smart and fun.
Syriana has many interests including singing, painting, gymnastics and reading. When she grows up, she wants to be a famous singer.
Syriana is doing well academically in school and benefits with support for some behavioral needs. She especially likes learning math.
Syriana needs a stable, consistent environment that can accommodate her needs while supporting her as part of the family. She should be the only or significantly younger child in her adoptive family. The ideal family would be a two-parent (female/female or female/male) or a single-female family that has some prior parenting or childcare experience, including advocacy skills.
Syriana has contact with some of her extended birth family members who would like to remain part of her life post-adoption.
She would really like a dog, too.
To adopt a child from foster care, you must go through a training, interview and matching process that can take one to two years. To begin, call the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE), for referrals to agencies in your area. A social worker will meet with you, then refer you for the Massachusetts Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) training. After completing the MAPP course, you’ll have meetings with a social worker who will conduct your “home study” to explore adoption possibilities with you and begin to match you with a waiting child. It’s important to balance patience with persistence to make a match that will build a lifelong family.
To learn more about Syriana, and about adoption from foster care, call the MARE at 617-54- ADOPT
(617-542- 3678) or visit www.mareinc.org.
This article was prepared by the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange.