Six-year-old twins born with intellectual disabilities have been adopted and taken to the Netherlands after spending four years in foster care, the southern Tainan branch of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families (TFCF) said on Thursday.
The twins — a girl nicknamed A-e (阿鵝) and a boy nicknamed A-kuo (阿國) — entered the TFCF’s care at the age of two, a TFCF social worker said.
As they had both been issued disability cards by the government and were reaching developmental milestones slower than other children their age, they were placed with separate foster families to better accommodate their needs, the source said, declining to be named.
Photo provided by the Southern Tainan Branch Office of the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families
A-kuo’s condition has improved and his development is now only mildly delayed, TFCF said.
He is able to clearly express himself, and is physically active and considerate, it said.
A-e is an endearing girl who always greeted her foster father with a warm smile when he arrived home from work, it said.
The twins’ biological parents gave up their guardianship rights, because they were unable to continue raising them, it said.
The Tainan City Government introduced the TFCF to Cathwel Service, a New Taipei City-based organization.
Cathwel began looking abroad for parents for the twins after having had no success in Taiwan for six months, the TFCF said.
Finally, they found a Dutch couple who wanted to adopt them, it said.
They recently traveled to Taiwan to take the twins to the Netherlands, the TFCF said, adding that it was difficult for the twins’ foster parents — a woman named Su Ching (素靜) and a married couple surnamed Wu (吳) — to say goodbye.
The foster parents used picture books and other tools to reduce the twins’ anxiety and help them accept their new parents, it said.
The twins were also given photographs from their time in foster care, as well as T-shirts printed with the words ping ping an an (平平安安, “safety”), it added.
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