Terrence, 14 years old, VA

Terrence has a running joke with the staff at his residential facility that he's the reigning chess champion, and he'll challenge just about anyone willing to sit down for a game. He's a sharp, strategic thinker who also enjoys reading fantasy novels and sketching elaborate maps of imaginary worlds in his free time. Terrence has been at his current residential facility for several months, working through some significant emotional and behavioral challenges tied to years of trauma and instability in previous placements. It's been a hard road, but he's shown real progress, building better relationships with staff and starting to open up in therapy sessions. He can be guarded and quick to anticipate rejection, a defense built up over years of disrupted placements, but he has a quietly dry sense of humor that comes out once he's comfortable.

Wishes submitted by:

The Friends of Foster Care