Update: Jack joined a family in 2012! He kept his Chinese name, Xin, and is now home with his loving, permanent family. Read a story his mom, Kristi, wrote about the joy that Xin has brought to her family. 

From China. Date of Birth: June 1, 2003

Jack* is a child with a gentle soul.  As his teachers say, he is “a delight.”

I met Jack last summer in a northern province of China, where he was abandoned at birth eight years ago.  A sweet boy with a warm and open smile, he enjoyed playing with the other children we came to visit — two other high-energy boys, and a beautiful little girl with CP.  An easygoing kid, Jack amicably horsed around with the boys, all rolling around in giant tubes.  When one of the other boys knocked over Jack’s toy with a giant bear, he took it in stride — smiling and engaging the boy in more playful roughhousing.

When the little girl with CP began to practice walking as part of her physical therapy, Jack decided to help.  He guided her along the bars, and comforted her when she fell and began to cry.

Jack has poor hearing and unclear speech, the results of an ear deformity.  Despite these limitations, he has learned to communicate well with others, always answering his teachers’ questions in class.  But he has also learned to communicate in perhaps more important ways — in kindness and thoughtful gestures, in comforting and helping younger children, and in the subtle social cues of playing with other boys his age.

Jack will turn 8 in June.  He has spent a year on Holt’s waiting child photolisting, and still, he continues to wait for a loving family.  Jack has grown and developed well in the care of his foster parents, but what he needs now is a permanent family — a family to love and appreciate what a delightful boy he is, and support him throughout his life.

Interested families should be able to provide any medical care or therapies Jack will need, and have experience parenting past his age.

* name changed