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/.

Alec

Age: 8

"Hi, my name is Alec. I like to build things, and I'm pretty good with LEGO. I liked Jacquelyn and her Building Blocks Legos because they had motors and motion sensors. When I am older, I will be an inventor and I will live in a mansion. I will invent a flying train and I will make a future city. I will have six kids. I will invent a flying car.

I really like Math at school. And I love doing projects. I built a haunted house with double doors and windows with shutters.

I have a few friends at school. We like to play football, run around and play in the sand. After school I like to ride my BMX bike. An I love LEGO!"

According to his foster mom, Alec is a kind, endearing child who makes her family laugh. He shows a natural talent for music and for imitating sounds in a humorous way. She thinks he has made amazing progress in the year he's lived in her home. The youngest in his birth family, Alec was used to doing things on his own schedule and was highly distractible. This caused problems for him as he entered school and, for a time, colored his view of the need for learning.

Alec rises to his best abilities within a carefully structured and dependable routine. When he needs to be ready for school or for bed, his foster mom helps him with simple drawings of tasks and the time they should take. A timer helps him know how much time it should take to brush teeth, put on pajamas, lay out clothing and schoolbooks for the next day, etc. Natural consequences, both positive and otherwise, work well with Alec. For instance, if he chooses getting ready for bed rather than playing, he'll have time for a story and to tell his foster mom about his three favorite things that happened that day. When given firm guidelines of what is expected, and also recognition when he completes tasks, passing time and organization seem logical concepts to Alec. He needs positive teachers, mentors, and especially a parent or two who recognize how he learns best.

Alec's adoption team hopes to match his needs with a stable couple or single parent who will follow up with the structured environment in which he so clearly thrives. Alec would do well with other younger children or starting out as the only child in his family. He also does well with much older children as good role models.

Because Alec has experienced grief and loss, he needs patient, committed parent(s) who understand what is needed to help him heal from emotional trauma. Are you willing to make adjustments and develop strategies that will help him trade coping behaviors that he's outgrowing for new ones that serve him better in social situations?

Alec's foster family loves him and are eager to provide transitional support and advice as he adjusts to a family that appreciates this imaginative and creative boy who has already reinvented himself!

Portrait by Barb from Barb Bergeson Studio Gallery

To find out more about Alec, adoption or becoming a foster parent, email the Idaho CareLine or call 1-800-926-2588. You may be asked to provide this reference number: 30484.

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