w ere is m

should religion be a major factor in special needs adoption?

By Elizabeth Applebaum,

ennifer needs somebody to love her.

Assistant Editor

She is 8 years old and has been in

and out of hospitals and foster care since she was born. She wants a mother and a father,

maybe some brothers and sisters. But so far, nobody wants Jennifer. Today, Jennifer lives in a
. : .-170011147,4.
foster home. She goes to school each morning. In the afternoon she likes to do

)ouzzles; she's quick to figure them out. In the evening, she plays with friends or with

;

the foster family's new baby, whom she loves to hug and caress. Sometimes, she'll

spend a long while on the back yard swing. At first glance, she appears to be like any

other child. She is not. Jennifer has Sotos syndrome, a brain deformity that limits her

intellectual capabilities. She has a vocabulary of about 50 words and can in many

-ways care for herself, but she is expected to remain functioning at a child's level for the rest of her life.

Jennifer is one of hundreds of Jewish children nationwide who need a place to call home. They are

what's labeled hard-to-adopt boys and girls: they have disabilities or come from abusive homes and

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

23

