Jessica, a young lady with a beautiful smile, was born in February of 1997. She loves horses and likes Hannah Montana, Barbies and Sponge Bob. She is getting ready to enter the seventh grade and is excited about getting a laptop to use for school. She receives special services in school because she has difficulty focusing and receiving instruction.

When not in school, she enjoys drawing, coloring, playing kick-ball and tic-tac-toe. In the summer, she enjoys swimming. Her favorite colors are purple and pink. Her favorite food is spaghetti with meatballs.
Asked what she would like people to know about her, she replied, “I’m a nice girl and I like to have fun.”
Jessica engages well with adults. She needs a family with patience and understanding, a family that has experience with or is willing to get the training to work with mild to moderate MR. She works best with step-by-step instruction and constant supervision. An adoption subsidy may be available for the most appropriate family.

Markus, born in January 1996, is a curious boy who likes to play outdoors. He will do pretty much anything – play hide and seek, explore the woods, look at bugs – as long as he can be outdoors. While indoors, he recently began doing puzzles.
His favorite food is watermelon and he likes “every color.” He likes to collect seashells on trips to the beach. Over the summer, Markus was helpful in the garden and enjoyed tending to plants. He does well with adult interactions and enjoys the company of grown-ups.
Markus likes animals and has had many pets in past foster homes. Dogs, cats, birds – he has lived with them all. He enjoys playing with the pets and would like to have pets in his adoptive home. An adoption subsidy may be available for the most appropriate family.

Jessica and Marcus are two of the 160 children currently in Maine Department of Health and Human Service’s care who are seeking an adoptive family. 118 of those children have been waiting for permanency for more than a year. There are 1,924 children in the state’s care and 1,266 licensed foster homes.
Based in Gardiner, A Family for ME is a nonprofit program that works in collaboration with Maine DHHS. A Family for ME and Chuck Pelletier Images of Lewiston have put images of 448 children awaiting adoption in the Heart Gallery at www.AFamilyForMe.org. For more information, call toll free 1-877-505-0545.