DALLAS — We often hear the term "together we are stronger."
I like to say, "With love, we are stronger."
Zuriah is today's Wednesday's Child!
Stuffed with a whole lot of love, Zuriah's new best friend will never leave her side. The 10-year-old created her at the Build-A-Bear-Workshop at the Dallas Galleria and affectionately named her “Rainbow Cake.”
“I really like it because it's very ‘rainbow,’ and it has all my favorite colors on it," she said with a big smile.
Zuriah's new best friend will never leave her side, which brings her great comfort. Wherever she goes, Rainbow Cake will be with her too.
And before she placed a heart inside of Rainbow Cake, Zuriah made a wish.
“I wish I'll be adopted!" she said, as she hugged her new teddy bear.
Pam Letourneau has been Zuriah's Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) for three years, ever since Zuriah has been in foster care. She worries about the young girl.
“I spend a lot of nights laying in my bed praying and not sleeping," Letourneau said in an emotional interview.
"I call her my girl. She's just in my heart."
It pains her that Zuriah is the only one left of her five siblings not to be adopted.
"We need a forever family for Zuriah. She's starting to ask that question, 'Why don't I have a family?'" said Letourneau.
Meantime, Zuriah wants everyone to know that she is kind and likes to spread joy wherever she goes.
"I'm a nice person, an honest person and a generous person," she said.
Like her new teddy bear, Zuriah wants family members in her life who will not go anywhere.
"I want to be adopted and have a family, because one day I might need a family, and I don't want to age out of the system," she said.
Zuriah's advocates say she needs parents who are firm, set boundaries and have a lot of love and patience.
Zuriah believes God will bring her a forever family.
"He's helped me through my childhood, he's helped me to be a good girl," she said.
Zuriah won’t stop praying for a family. Neither will her advocates.
"That God would find her a family that could give her the life that she deserves and the one that's been denied to her, really since her birth," said Letourneau.
For more information on how to adopt Zuriah, please send all approved home studies to LaQueena Warren at LaQueena.Warren@dfps.texas.gov. Please remember to include Zuriah's name within the subject line.
If you're not licensed, please visit adoptchildren.org to find out more information on how to become licensed to foster and/or adopt or contact LaQueena Warren at 817-304-1272.
For more Wednesday’s Child stories and how to start the process of adopting or fostering a child, you can click here.