Gina was eagerly awaiting the arrival of her first foster child. After having two biological children, she and her partner were ready to adopt. “She was supposed to be a perfectly healthy 3-month old,” Gina remembers. “But when she arrived, she was only 6 weeks old.” And something was very wrong with baby Kennedy. Kennedy…
“I had wonderful teachers who knew I was going to be successful,” says Caitlin Hernandez, graduate of Wayfinder’s Blind Babies Foundation early intervention program and teacher of children with disabilities. “I want to pay this forward.” Caitlin, now age 29, was born blind. “I have light perception but no functional vision,” she explains. When Caitlin…
“Before Elizabeth was born, I had never met a blind person,” says Gina, Elizabeth’s mother. Back then, Gina and her husband, Greg, wondered, How should we play with Elizabeth? Should we limit her activities? What will her life be like when she grows up? Wayfinder was there with the answers. When Elizabeth was 6 weeks…
Elena is not yet 2 years old, but she has already battled extreme odds—and won! Elena was born at slightly more than 5 months, weighing only 1 pound, 4 ounces. “She had only a 20% chance of survival,” says Hector, Elena’s dad. After two months in a neonatal intensive care unit, doctors discovered abnormal blood…
Meet Hector and Maria Parents of Elena, a Child in the Early Intervention Program When you first came to Wayfinder, what was your biggest obstacle? What did Wayfinder do to help you overcome it and thrive? Elena was born at 24 weeks. Our biggest worry was, what was she going to be behind on? And…
Steve and Esmeralda Hall weren’t able to have biological children, but they had a lot of love to give a child. The Lancaster, Calif., couple began the foster-to-adopt process. The Halls were very interested in fostering a baby who had been surrendered under California’s 2006 Safely Surrendered Baby Law. The law encourages parents to surrender…
