On 21/1/2022 the Probation Officer (child protection) brought a small boy to Amecet, we thought he was around 2 years old. He was found, alone, in a half finished building without a roof, early in the morning. We don't know if he has been there all night or if he has been put there just early that morning.
He was malnourished, scared and his eyes were so dull and sad,, You could just see that this boy had suffered much. I wanted to put my hand on his head and he stepped back, as if he expected me to slap him....
we wrote an add in the local newspaper, posters were hung around the p[ace were he was found and investigation was done around that area, but nothing came up. He didn't talk and he was given the name of the Probation Officer: Amos. It was not easy with him, he was withdrawn and he never smiled. He ate well and after he was treated for some infections, his health improved well. We were more concerned about his emotional status, it was not normal for a boy of his age.. We all felt for him, and tried to get closer to him, which was not an easy task.
It took some time until Amos was more relax, started to play and smiling. It seemed that he could not handle a lot of people, noises and sudden changes around him. And he could really scream when things were not going like he wanted. When you took him aside and talked calm to him he stopped screaming and could be okay very fast. We talked with the Headteacher of the Harmony Preschool (also YWAM) . She welcomed him into baby class, we thought it might get him talking or it will go completely wrong, that it is too much for him.. But it went well and he enjoyed it, we could hear him singing in his bed and he started to talk. As you can see in the 3 pictures above, he is happy and his beautiful eyes are shining....
In the meantime we were talking with the Probation Officer, who gave us the green light to find a family for him who will foster and then adopt him, after one year. Since we have a list with family's who asked for a child, we started the process. Normally we take time to do that, we want to know for sure that Amos will go to the right family... This time it took really long. When there is a match between the family and the child, the Probation Officer has an interview with them and goes together with them through the forms, they have to fill. Then they go for an inspection visit to the home of the family, they also talk to the neighbours etc. The family that we first thought would be a match, didn't qualify later due to different reasons. So we started the process afresh with a different family. That was a widow and it went really good between the lady and Amos, she loved the little boy. But we also had to stop this process, because there were people in the clan who were against it. Several meetings were held, but nothing changed and we felt that Amos would not be safe there. The issue of owning land came in, when the widow adopt a boy, he will also inherit the land and the family didn't like that. So again we were back at the beginning.... Then we talked with a family who adopted a boy from Amecet, 6 years ago. They had asked for another child and they came back to us that they wanted to take Amos. They have been coming to visit him for a while on Saturdays and yesterday was the big day, the papers were given and the Probation Officer handed Amos (his name sake) over to his new forever family!! Amos has now a father, a mother and a big brother!!!
It took much longer than normal, but maybe it was good for Amos that he was a bit longer with us, we are probably the first people who loved him and really cared for him. He didn't know at first, how to handle that. This morning we got a picture send by his father, he is doing well and he was sitting on their sofa.. We'll miss Amos and his cute giggle, his beautiful eyes, but he is now at the right place, where he will be loved and cared for!!
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