GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - FOX 17 continues helping foster youth across West Michigan find homes, introducing 10-year-old B.J.
"B.J. is a great kid," Dana Wright of Orchards Children’s Services says. "He likes being outdoors - he loves being outside and playing."
After being given up by his mother and spending more than two years in the foster system, B.J. is still searching for a loving family and a place to call home.
B.J. is nonverbal - but communicates with his iPad, typing out what he wants to say.
He’s one of nearly 200 developmentally impaired children in Michigan searching for an adoptive home.
"The family will have to be willing to continue on with services," Wright says. "He definitely would need some services in place and be a strong advocate for making sure his school programming needs are met as well."
Those children wait the longest for families - and have the lowest chance of ever finding one. If B.J. doesn`t find a home before he turns 18, he’ll be sent to an adult foster care for the rest of his life.
"A lot of people kind of shy away from kids who have those needs - and one of the reasons we featured him is that we’ve really been trying hard to find him that special family for him," Wright says.
Though he may be different from other kids his age, B.J. has an amazing list of qualities to offer the perfect family.
"He`s a lovable young kid,"caregiver Janeen Youngbood-Weems says. "He does the same things as any other kids like to do, he loves to play outside."
B.J.’s favorite thing is to go to the airport and watch the airplanes take off. It’s a simple thing for a boy facing daily struggles - as he looks for love, understanding, and kindness from a family willing to take a chance on him.
"He`ll be a blessing to someone," Youngblood-Weems says.
If you’d like to adopt B.J. or another child, call Orchards Children’s Services at 855-694-7301.
