A Child is Waiting: Athletic and Creative, Sandy has Many Talents

By Honey Murray for MediaNews Group

Anyone looking for Sandy on a Saturday afternoon might find this interesting teenaged girl shopping at the mall for matching outfits, playing a game of Uno with housemates, or practicing shooting baskets at the gym with her basketball team.

“Sandy is a talkative, friendly girl,” her worker says. “Everybody likes her. There’s a lot she enjoys doing. She likes to draw, color, watch movies, and she likes sports. She likes movement.”

Though Sandy faces cognitive development challenges, she loves school.

“Sandy has always loved school,” says her worker. “She rarely has anything negative at all to say about it. And if you ask her what her favorite subject is, she’ll say that it’s math…and science…and art…and music class.”

“I want to be a singer, dancer, artist and fashion designer,” Sandy shares. “What I like doing the most is art. So, I pick art or like, singing and dancing… I want to design any type of clothes. Maybe paintings or drawings or coloring or something like that. I want to be a singer, dancer, artist and fashion designer. I like hip-hop, rap, r-and-b. I like good beats…”

“This year,” her worker says, “Sandy got on the Special Olympics basketball team, which she really likes. She also likes volleyball.”

Sandy is learning to cook and bake, and she enjoys doing both.

“I like learning about anything,” she says. “After high school, I’d like to get a job.”

Sandy would also like a forever family of her own.

“Sandy would do best with two parents. She needs parents with strong boundaries and a good sense of humor,” her worker states. “She needs structure. She is really growing and developing, especially with the use of charts and lists and guidelines that help her focus on daily tasks with success and a sense of accomplishment.

“Sandy is very good with younger kids and would do well being the oldest or only child in the family. She is very willing to share and loves to build new friendships. She is strong, kind, goofy and resilient. Her greatest wish is to be adopted.”

When asked what she would like to do with a forever family, Sandy, who is most proud of learning to be a better person, being good at basketball as well as arts and crafts, and making friends, replies, “A family being kind and nice and loving, spending time together, doing stuff together. I just want a mom and dad.”

For more information about adoption, fostering, or mentoring, please contact Orchard’s Children’s Services at 855.694.7301.