Daniel’s eyes have been described as “eyes of an angel” and they truly are.  Daniel has a history of seizures and a diagnosis of cerebral palsy.  We feel that his seizures scare the doctors and caregivers in his room so they feel “doing nothing” is safer than interacting with him.  He is moved only to be fed and changed.  Our TEAM provided as much information on seizures as possible and stressed the importance of movement and interaction for his development, but our latest information leads us to believe he is still in his bed basically all the time.

Daniel is able to track visually and often would open his mouth and softly vocalize when we would talk to him and hold him.  We were told that he takes his food from a bottle and caregivers often use a pacifier to help him complete his swallow.  We enjoyed getting him out of his bed and holding him in the floor while we played and talked to him. He appropriately lit up with interaction and seemed to really enjoy the attention.  He has very low muscle tone which is to be expected since he spends all of his time lying down.  He also seems susceptible to respiratory challenges such as bronchitis.  We feel his health status is fragile and we feel that he would not be able to survive a transfer from his orphanage.  As are all the children’s situations, his situation is truly life threatening and we are praying that he is able to find the care and love he needs with a family.