But.
Remember "Dean"? I posted his picture with a blog entry, one of the first. ("Veronica" was very first; I think "Dean" might have been second.) Today I noticed "Dean's" picture no longer on the "At-Risk of Aging Out" page. Fearing the worst, I looked him up by name, and sadly the worst has happened..."Dean" aged out.
I knew his chances were against him; I genuinely did know. He had less than a month left when I got to him, he had a grainy picture, and he's male. All these factors make him less adoptable. Still, I feel a connection to each child I post, as if I am "getting to know" him/her. The children on Reece's Rainbow are not just pictures to me.
"Dean's" future is bleak indeed. Depending on the extent of his mental delays, he has two possible paths. Either he will go to a "trade school," to be trained in a menial trade with very little supervision, and he might (ten percent do...) commit suicide before his eighteenth birthday. If he is "too disabled" for that, he will be sent to a mental institution. My stomach feels sick just at the prospect...I've seen pictures, and these places aren't pretty, to say the least.
Maybe now you understand why I worry so much about "Dean" and all the others who age out.
But on that note, it's time to share one more. I wasn't sure I had the heart to continue the effort, and thought maybe I needed a break...but you don't get breaks when you're doing God's work in the world. So, please meet "CHARLENE," aging out NEXT JULY, and diagnosed with Down syndrome:
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