ROUND ROCK, Texas — Every week on KVUE Daybreak, we feature a child in the Texas foster care who is looking to be adopted by a forever family.
Joel is 14 years old and has only been in foster care for a few years now. He begins high school in the fall and is a little nervous because it's a brand new school.
He currently lives in a group home with other boys his age, but he told KVUE's Hannah Rucker what he really wants is a family. He said he's ready to be adopted.
"I want to be adopted really bad," Joel said.
Rucker met up with Joel at Gattitown in Round Rock, where he was able to play all the games and eat his favorite, buffalo chicken pizza. Manager Alicia Morrow Drewe was so kind and accommodating and allowed Joel to take home some stuffed animals.
PHOTOS | Forever Families: Meet Joel
Joel loves to read and said he loves the "Big Nate" book series. He also loves Pokémon.
To learn more about Joel or to put in an inquiry to adopt him, visit his page on the Heart Gallery of Central Texas.
KVUE launched the Forever Families segment with Partnerships for Children (PFC) in June 2020 to highlight children in the Heart Gallery of Central Texas who need secure and permanent families. Every day, there are nearly 1,000 children waiting to get adopted in Central Texas, according to PFC.
Editor's note: The children who are in the Heart Gallery program and featured in KVUE's Forever Families segments are children who have had every effort made on their behalf to connect them with family or others in their community to provide options for permanent, adoptive homes. Through no fault of their own, that hasn’t happened yet, and so in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services, we collaborate to bring awareness to KVUE viewers about these children in the hopes of finding them permanency before they age out.