Josh is waiting for a safe and loving adoptive family.

Josh, born in 1993, is a handsome young man with big brown eyes and brown hair. He will enter the 10th grade this fall. Josh is in a special classroom where he gets help for academic and emotional issues. He has a great sense of humor and is a wonderful conversationalist. He delights the people around him with the knowledge he obtains from reading.

Josh would like adoptive families to know that he is really kind and enjoys the indoors more than the outdoors, though he does like river fishing and riding his bike. He likes video games, mechanics and movies and loves to read.

He says that he is intelligent, gets along well with others and is creative. Josh likes drawing, making things and doing origami. He has a wonderful imagination. Josh also enjoys gardening and likes to prepare and fix things.

The people who are around Josh report that he is a lot of fun to be around – loyal, helpful and polite. He is a hard worker and loves to learn about things that interest him and his caregivers. One worker had this to say about Josh: “He has a very sensitive heart. One of the things that I see in him is that he is interested in people and what they are feeling, how they are doing, and what he can do to make it better. Josh will spend hours reading. He is very artistic. He likes to create!”

Josh has had many different placements while in care. He wants a family that will make a commitment to him so he won’t have to worry about moving again. Josh is open to any type of family and is willing to be placed anywhere in the U.S. Josh would like to continue contact with his birth mother. He knows there are many ways that this can happen if he moves out of state.

Josh was in a car accident when he was younger and has some lasting effects from this. He can be impulsive, easily distracted and at times argumentative. Josh would benefit from living in an adoptive home that uses humor as he can usually be easily redirected when adults use humor. He does better when he knows what the schedule is and even better if there is a way he can help create the schedule. His adoptive family will need to provide eyes-on supervision and a highly structured environment, with routines he can learn to follow, and give directives one at a time. Josh would do well with an adoptive family that is very patient, empathetic and understanding of his challenges and needs. Josh will be a wonderful addition to the right family.

An adoption subsidy is available for the most appropriate family. Josh is one of 153 children in Maine Department of Health and Human Services care who is seeking an adoptive family. Based in Gardiner, A Family for ME is a nonprofit program that works in collaboration with Maine DHHS to find foster and adoptive families for Maine children in care.

For information about foster or adoptive parenting or children available for adoption, contact A Family for ME toll free at 877-505-0545 or visit www.AFamilyForMe.org and see photographs of children awaiting a “forever family.”