4 Coleman children available for adoption
Tonight News 5 is pleased to bring you another segment in our series on children available for adoption. Last week’s profile resulted in a good response from viewers, and we hope that once you meet the following four kids, they too may have a better chance at finding a family to love them.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
Meet the Coleman children: eight-year-old Elizabeth, six-year-old Elihue, four-year-old Christopher, and two-year-old Michael. In September 2002, this sister and her three brothers became residents at the Dorothy Menzies Child Care Centre after their mother could no longer take care of them. Today, the children are looking to be placed together in a permanent home.
Elizabeth Coleman, Adoption Candidate
“I no want nobody to beat up my brothers and I want to stay with my brothers and everything that I have I could share with my brothers.”
The children are not alone, in fact the Human Services Department is concerned about the increasing number of siblings being abandoned, neglected, and abused. The Coleman children, especially Elizabeth, do not want to be separated.
Jolleen Arnold, Acting Supervisor, Child Placement
“The department goal’s is to keep the family together, so we will try and find a family that could take possibly all siblings, and that is very difficult to do due to those families might have their own family already. So then we will possibly look at splitting the siblings into groups. If that is not workable, then we would find individual homes for each child.”
Elizabeth is a pleasant child who loves to smile and cares very much for her younger brothers. Elihue may be a slow learner, but once given that individual attention, he’s willing to interact with his peers and others. The two youngest brothers, Christopher and Michael are fun to be with and enjoy playing games.
However, the children do not like growing up in an institution where it can be uncomfortable at times. Elizabeth says she is tired of standing in line to bathe, tired of sleeping in one room with six other children.
Elizabeth Coleman
“When I go upstairs to bathe and when I come downstairs back, the one name Christopher, sometimes I see him di cry, then I ask, then anytime he di cry, he come and tell me, then afterwards I let him go tell the officers.”
Hortense Reynolds, Foster Mother
“In an institution, we have–like today we have thirty-nine children. That is very good compared to other days when we have fifty plus. And it’s hard for you to find a quiet corner, it’s really hard. And as I said we would want them to be in families.”
A more stable environment will be able to provide the children with the care and attention they need.
Elizabeth Coleman
“We play because I don’t know how fi read. Sometimes, like last night, me and my brother we sit down in a chair and I try to read, but I let one of the officers help me to read and then afterwards one of those pickney come rough up me.”
Hortense Reynolds
“We are fighting very hard for them to go together, but I believe if they cannot go together, well we have tried our best. But we would really love to see them in a good family together.”
The children’s foster mother, Hortense Reynolds, says they have had cases where children have never been adopted especially after they have reached the age of ten years old. However, the centre’s caregivers are optimistic that Elizabeth, Elihue, Christopher, and Michael will be taken into a loving home.
As these children wait for any good news, we are happy to report that as a result of our first adoption story, the children’s home has received a number of calls from families interested in providing a permanent home for brothers eight-year-old Jordan and seven-year-old Aaron.
Hortense Reynolds
“We’ve received several calls of people wanting to adopt and these information have been passed on to the family services division, so hopefully something will come out of that.”
If you are interested in adopting the Coleman children, you can contact Jolleen Arnold at telephone number 227-7451.
