Wednesday's Child: Marlenie And Joevanni

BOSTON (CBS) - Marlenie and Joevanni are Hispanic siblings who are legally free for adoption, and hope to be adopted together. Marlenie, 13, is a bright girl with a colorful personality and a good sense of humor. In school, Marlenie strives to make honor roll in order to run for student council. At home, she relies on reminders to pick up after herself. She enjoys shopping, cheerleading, day camp in the summer and is very social with lots of friends. Marlenie is very mature and is quick to assume a caretaker role around younger children. She can hardly wait until she is old enough to babysit. Her favorite television show is Glee, and her favorite movie is Grease. In the past, Marlenie was interested in becoming a hairdresser and opening up her own salon in the future. Currently, she has stated that she would like to be a child psychologist.

Joevanni likes to be called Joey. At age 12, he is an active boy with a great smile. He is a terrific athlete and enjoys organized sports, such as basketball, football, and baseball. In school, Joey is well-liked by his teachers and benefits from an Individualized Education Plan to assist with reading. At home, he is affectionate, appreciative and respectful to his foster parents and will often ask to help out with chores. At times, he can have trouble with sharing. Joey loves to play with LEGOS, Transformers and his Wii. He likes summer camp, where this past summer he was able to conquer his fear of swimming. Joey would like to be a police officer, firefighter or electrician when he grows up.

Marlenie and Joey would do best in a single parent or two-parent family that could provide a nurturing, structured environment with consistent limits. English is their primary language, although both would like to learn Spanish someday. Both children do well with pets. Their future family should also be supportive of these siblings continuing their individual therapy, and also maintaining limited contact with their extended family.

To learn more about Marlenie and Joey, and about adoption from foster care, call the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) at 617-54-ADOPT (617-542-3678) or visit www.MAREinc.org. The sooner you call, the sooner a waiting child will have "a permanent place to call HOME."