DALLAS—Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services places dozens of children into loving families each year through domestic open adoption. But this year, one special child needs a family more than ever.
Buckner is seeking an adoptive family for a seven-month-old boy was born with spina bifida, a developmental birth defect where a child’s spinal cord protrudes through the vertebrae and fills with fluid.
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A seven-month-old boy was born with spina bifida, a developmental birth defect where a child’s spinal cord protrudes through the vertebrae and fills with fluid. Doctors performed surgery shortly after his birth and were successful in repairing the rupture, but it has caused a number of medical difficulties for this playful and happy baby, said Leah Gilliam, Buckner adoption counselor.
“He is paralyzed from the knees down and will probably always need assistance to walk,” she said.
Gilliam said the child’s 16-year-old mother and 17-year-old father made a decision to place their son for adoption before he was born. “They’re teenagers, and they knew they couldn’t provide the family he needed,” she said.
Doctors performed surgery shortly after his birth and were successful in repairing the rupture, but it has caused a number of medical difficulties for him, and he will require special care.
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But when he was born with special needs and there weren’t any available adoptive families, they decided to take him home and try parenting, Gilliam explained.
“Within a few months they realized they were unable to provide for him the way they had hoped. We’ve been spreading the word around the state through our other foster care and adoption offices to try and find an adoptive family, but we haven’t been successful,” she said.
Buckner would like to place the boy into an adoptive family in the Dallas/Fort Worth area to support an open relationship, but his birth grandmother and primary caregiver for the past seven months said a family who is willing to love and nurture him is the most important thing.
“He deserves a family who can give him more than we’re able to,” she said.
Buckner is looking for a family who is willing to maintain an open relationship with the boy’s birth parents and capable of helping him with his special needs.
For more information about this child or the adoption process, contact Buckner Adoption and Maternity Services at (214) 319-3426.
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