A Child is Waiting: Andrew Wants to be a Meteorologist

Fifteen-year-old Andrew is a very busy seventh grader.

“I’m on the honor roll,” Andrew shares in his M.A.R.E. (Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange) video. “And I had the second-highest grade last trimester!”

Andrew enjoys science class – especially the experiments. “I like the bean-growing project,” he says. “You don’t need dirt…You need just the perfect climate, sunshine, and the perfect amount of water.”

“I also enjoy watching the news,” says Andrew. “I’d like to become a meteorologist. They tell you about the weather. In some places, they tell you about the clouds, or if it’s going to be stormy or a different condition, and about the temperature.”

When he is not playing his favorite video games (Candy Crush, Bubble Witch, Mario Cart), Andrew enjoys playing Legos with friends, reading comic books (his favorite? Sonic the Hedgehog), going to a Pokemon club at the local library and attending a community bi-weekly youth group. And Andrew often talks about a camping trip he went on with care staff and peers, reminiscing about the fun of the rural activities.

Andrew also loves spending time every week with his mentor, who takes him swimming; grocery shopping; to movies, baseball games, errand runs: anything a person might do with their own child. “A mentor is such a special part of their lives,” said Andrew’s care provider. “It’s a relationship with an unpaid adult who accepts them as they are and enjoys spending time.” Andrew’s mentor happens to be the mother of a staff member who, after background checks and approval from human resources, was willing and able to have that relationship.

Andrew hopes for adoption – and siblings. “I’d like to have siblings,” he says. “I could help them and play with them.”

“Andrew is a good-hearted kid who enjoys any contact with those who are warm and accepting,” says his care provider. “He gets along with most anyone. If I had three words to describe Andrew, they’d be: endearing, fun-loving, caring.”

Andrew’s care provider believes that a sibling situation is not a factor for adoption success, and that Andrew would thrive with older or younger, male or female, siblings or as an only child, and that Andrew would benefit from a patient – yet appropriately firm – family that is open to learning about someone with a high-functioning developmental disability.

And that such a family would provide, like that of Andrew’s bean project, just the perfect climate.

For more information, contact Orchards Childrens Services at (855) 694-7301 or visit www.orchards.org.

By Honey Murray for Digital First Media