Displayed on screen: Logo for Oklahoma Department of Human Services
Text on screen: Deborah L., 12 Years Old
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CATHY Y: Deborah has been in custody for the last couple of years.
She has a lot of personality.
Deborah is very affectionate.
She loves her baby dolls.
Text on screen: Cathy Y. Child Welfare Specialist
She loves her stuffed animals, her fuzzy blankets.
She is a lot like any kid in the world.
She is assertive.
She will let people know what she wants.
She can speak some.
She can do some sign language also.
She has a routine.
Deborah responds good to structure.
She has a morning time she wakes up, she gets ready, she will go to school.
She is not fond of school.
Her developmental functioning is about the level of a two to three year old.
So it consists of some coloring and sign language and things that they’re working on with her.
It’s not your typical twelve year-old kind of school but she’s doing well.
Because she thinks on a two to three year old level she is like a toddler.
She is playful, she wants to get into everything and so you would have to be on your game as far as supervision goes.
She redirects pretty easily so that wouldn’t be a problem but I wouldn’t recommend letting her go outside by herself because she might wander off.
She could spend hours looking at books or coloring but she will require monitoring.
Deborah does have some significant medical needs.
She does need to wear a vest to help loosen up mucus in her chest, so she does have some breathing issues obviously.
We feel it would be very important for any family that was interested in Deborah to understand right off the bat they need to be very proactive as far as her medical needs are concerned.
They need to be prepared to educate themselves and then follow up.
Deborah should be adopted because she is absolutely worthy of it.
She is worth finding the right family and she is worth any amount of love anybody could ever give her.
She deserves a shot and I think that she will flourish.
KENNETH B:  It’s important for our children to find homes and they do need love.
They need attention, they need affection.
They need someone to let them know I care about you, 
Text on Screen: Kenneth B. Post Adoption Services Supervisor
someone to talk to them or to speak to them or give them an encouraging word, to let them know it’s going to be okay, to pat them on their back every once in a while, to play with them.
Our DDS children are extremely hard to place.
Some families are just not interested.
However, our children do need homes, they do deserve a family.
They do deserve a mom and dad, someone to go home to at night, someone to talk to them.
I would say the reason why our children might be so hard to place is because ea lot of it may be fear, they might just see the outside, they might just hear the condition.
They might just see the picture of the child and think that, okay, there’s no way I can be able to take care of a child with some of these issues.
I would say just to the families to just be willing to give our children a chance because they can survive, they can adapt, they can be one of your children in your home surviving and doing well and thriving.
CATHY Y:  Deborah would bring a lot of love and a lot of laughter.
She would, you know, she would just bring her quirky sense of humor and it’s funny.
She is just a funny, sweet kid.
She needs the love of a good family that will support her and care for her as she grows up.
If we had a family that would allow her to have visits with her siblings, she does have siblings and I know that she cares for both of them.
An adoptive family should know that Deborah has a light in her little heart and they should know that she is fully capable of love, that she is going to be some work because nothing good comes easy, but she will be worth it.
I believe that.
I would say welcome to the party!
Text on screen: For more information about adopting Deborah L., Please call 1-800-376-9729, or visit online at www.okfosters.org. Recorded November 20, 2018.
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