DALLAS — Every week, we bring you the story of a foster child who needs to be adopted.
Most people want a younger child, and the older children get overlooked.
We can't let that happen to 15-year-old Christian.
He's very shy, but he opened-up about foster care and his desire for someone to teach him how to be a man.
Sadly, walking around aimlessly is something Christian has somewhat become accustomed to during his time in foster care.
WFAA met him at Zero Latency DFW. It's a free-roam virtual reality experience in Dallas. Roaming around without direction in the game was fun, but it's not fun in real life.
Christian has been in foster care since 2018.
"It's been rough," he said candidly.
Christian is soft spoken, but his suffering was heard loud and clear.
"It makes me feel left out, thrown under somewhere and feeling like I have no one," he said. "I just wanna [sic] feel like I belong."
In this made-up virtual reality world, he did belong.
"It was like a puzzle kind of, and it was like in a paradise kind of scenario," he said.
The peace and direction he felt in the virtual experience is what Christian wants to feel in real life.
"Having someone that I can lean on and care about. Having someone that can care for me," he said.
Over the last four years in foster care, Christian has never stopped dreaming of a forever family who will truly see who he is.
His case worker provided WFAA with pictures of Christian over the last four years. In the pictures, he's smiling.
Even though there is pain behind his smile, Christian says he has a big heart he wants to share.
"I'm really a caring person at heart, and I do anything I can to help other people."
He also wants a father who will teach him how to be a man.
"I want like a father figure because I'm gonna [sic] need to be taught things that I'll need later when I'm an adult."
Paradise for Christian would be to have parents who accept him. No rejection. Just unconditional love.
"I want to feel like I'm actually a part of a family," he said.
In the future, Christian wants to become a United States Marine. He wants to serve his country and says if he doesn't get adopted, he hopes other Marines will become his family.
Our hope is that when he does join the military, they will become his extended family because he already has a forever one through adoption.
For more information on how to adopt Christian, please send all approved home studies to LaQueena Warren at LaQueena.Warren@dfps.texas.gov. Please remember to include Christian'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.