Sunday’s Child is a weekly column featuring a child currently in foster care and waiting to be adopted.

Jeneva, or Jenna for short, is a happy and social five-year-old Caucasian girl who needs a dedicated family who will celebrate all of her successes and gains. Jenna is diagnosed with a chromosomal abnormality that affects her size, development, and behaviors. She has global developmental delays that also affect her speech. Jenna can at times have tantrums and be stubborn. She needs a family that will provide a home for her with structure and have a lot of patience.

She is currently working with a behavioral therapist and is making steady progress. Jenna is currently in Kindergarten where she has no noted behavioral concerns. She does have an Individualized Educational Plan to assist her learning. Jenna enjoys playing with dolls and loves Disney characters.

Jenna would do well in a family of any constellation, with or without other children. She has resided with babies in her foster home and she adores them. She does not currently reside in a home with animals, but she has no aversion to them when she sees them in the community. A future family will also need to be open to visits with birth family post-adoption as part of an open adoption agreement. The ideal family would have parenting experience or experience working with a child with special needs.

Who can adopt?

Can you provide the guidance, love, and stability that a child needs? If you’re at least 18 years old, have a stable source of income, and room in your heart, you may be a perfect match to adopt a waiting child. Adoptive parents can be single, married, or partnered; experienced or not; renters or homeowners; LGBT singles and couples.

The process to adopt a child from foster care requires training, interviews, and home visits to determine if adoption is right for you, and if so, to help connect you with a child or sibling group that will be a good match. The process to make a match that will be “for keeps’’ can take a year or longer.

To learn more about adoption from foster care, call the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) at 617-54-ADOPT (617-542-3678) or visit www.mareinc.org. The sooner you call, the sooner a waiting child will have a permanent place to call home.