Editor's Note: Window on the Clearwater has joined the Wednesday's Child network to help spread the word about children that are waiting for families to give them the loving care that they need. Each Wednesday we will profile a different child. For more information about Wednesday's Child and how you can be involved check the web site at: http://www.idahowednesdayschild.org/.

Avisha

Age: 12

Avisha is a happy, energetic boy who enjoys playing soccer and being outside almost all of the time. When he's not outdoors, he enjoys hanging out with friends and playing video games. Avisha's strength is his ability to make others laugh. That has been a healthy, healing ability to a boy who has had more than his share of opposition in his young life.

Born in Liberia, Avisha and his sister clung to each other in a country filled with civil strife and brutality. Avisha has experienced grief and loss, language and cultural differences and deeply ingrained trust issues. Over the past five years, he has made huge progress in many of these areas. He will need the advocacy and creative skills of a deeply invested parent.

Now living in a treatment setting, Avisha is looking forward to a time when he can live in a family and enjoy their attention and help. His pre-adoptive family could help him transition into their home by first visiting him in his current setting. Avisha would also benefit from contact with his sister.

The adoption team will be looking for parents who understand children who come from the hard places of early abuse, neglect and abandonment. Past foster folks, mental health professionals or parents who understand early childhood trauma could potentially have the focus, patience, stamina and uncommon parenting skills Avisha deserves. They will be able to access the professional and community supports he will need.

Avisha's reaction to stress or raised voices is normal when one understands how he views an environment that has not always provided for his most basic needs. He is ready to trade the coping mechanisms that may have preserved his life as a child for updated skills that now help him make sense of his current world. His parent(s) can help him express complex feelings in healthy ways.

Avisha has struggled academically only because he didn't attend school for the first few school years. He strives to do well and is more than willing to listen and learn from his teachers and adults. He would like the opportunity to communicate with his sister and previous foster parents.

Are you an emotionally secure single parent or couple who can consistently set clear boundaries and provide constant supervision? Do you have experience working with children who struggle academically or have attention and hyperactivity challenges? Do you understand how to effectively use humor and surprise with children whose autonomic responses to stress or anxiety are different? Then you may be the extraordinary parent(s) Avisha has been waiting for! Please contact Avisha's adoption team and discover if you might be a match for him. This extraordinary boy is ready to make you smile!

Portrait by Jennifer Holmes Photography

To find out more about Avisha; adoption or becoming a foster parent, email the Idaho CareLine (Please include your zip code and city.) or call 1-800-926-2588. You may be asked to provide this reference number: 30506.

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