12-year old William has been in state care since 2009.  He is a friendly young man who desperately wants and needs a place to call home.

William also loves fire trucks, so we arranged to meet him at the downtown Little Rock fire station for a private tour. 

"I've been in love with fire trucks since I was a baby," he says. 

All his life, William has only dreamed of a day like this.  For a boy who loves fire trucks, who admires the firefighters who operate them, this is a dream come true.

"Stuff I seen today... it's the most amazing thing I ever seen," says William.

It's amazing, in part, because this young man, by all accounts, has lived a nightmare.

William's past is filled with heartbreak and neglect. Separated from his biological family and placed in state foster care, William is now looking for a family who will forever love and care for him. Sometimes, it's tough for him to understand.

"I like foster care, I really do," he says. "But sometimes, I be gettin' real sad, because I wanna be with my family, and I miss my brother and my whole family a lot, and I wish I could go back to my family."

Adoption specialist Wendy Childs says because of William's past, he desperately needs a home filled with compassion, healing, and love.

"Every child that enters into foster care has gone through something that none of us can ever imagine," says Childs. "He needs a family that's gonna be open and understanding, willing to provide unconditional love for him. Willing to understand that it will take time for progress to be made, but he is capable and has a strong desire to be loved in a loving home."

"I know a lot of people who would be afraid to talk about stuff like this," says William.

But a lot of that "stuff" is part of his past. He says he is ready to look forward, toward a positive, loving future, believing that after personally meeting these firefighters, watching them in action, dreams truly can come true.

"I want a family that loves me, always loved me and always will love me, and won't trade me, won't do nothing to me," says William. "I know God's gonna help me. I know God's gonna help me. And I know one day he's gonna change my life around."

Special thanks to the downtown fire department for hosting William.  Firefighters offered him an open invitation to join them for dinner any night he chooses. They also gifted him with a bracelet and special coin.

For more information on William and the hundreds of other children up for adoption, click on the Arkansas Department of Human Services' website.