ROCHESTER, N.Y. — This year, Christmas is looking a little different in the Ricci household.

“Ahora, puede escribir tu letra. ‘Querida papa, me gustaría una casa grande para mis Barbies,'” Shane Ricci laughed.

He’s a Spanish teacher and a single parent with an extra mouth to feed for the next few weeks.

“Max is an awesome child. He is 12. He's from Medellin, which is a province, a big city in Colombia. His life outside of anything else is, soccer,” he smiled.

Max is asking Santa Claus for a forever family this holiday season.

“The experience isn't to study in a different country, another school," Ricci explained. "It’s hopefully to find a forever family that can adopt these amazing kids that deserve the same goals, the same dreams that kids here are able to get."

Through Kidsave, a nonprofit organization that connects older children from Colombia with families for adoption, the 12-year-old will be staying with Ricci until Dec. 28. During his time in New York, Ricci will be introducing him to potential families within his communities who could be looking for another child.

“That's the biggest need all around the world," Maria Carolina Moreno, a Kidsave program manager, said. "You know, most of the adoptions that take place, I would say domestically in most of the countries are for kids who are younger than 10 years old. And they are the ones that have the most opportunities in their own countries. And that’s why we have identified that huge, huge, huge need for older kids all around the world.

She’s from Colombia, too. Morena says it’s one of the easiest countries for international adoption, and the need is plenty.

“It's kind of the same all around the world," she said. "In Colombia, we don't call kids orphans because they are not orphans. Some of them, their biological family [or their] parents are still alive. But they just didn't even have the conditions, such as, you know, maybe it's drugs. Sometimes it's negligence. Sometimes it's by domestic violence. Colombia has a very strict process before declaring a child adoptable. They really work very hard with their biological family trying to reunite them, either with the extended family or their parents. And only when it's not possible is when they will be declared an adoption. But I would say neglect [or] abuse [are] kind of the same reasons that it can happen in any other country.”

“The primary goal is, for me in any way, shape or form to help these, these children achieve what they, what every child should get," Ricci said. "And that’s a loving family that’s going to advocate for them, a loving family that’s going to help them achieve their dreams and goals, because that’s what every child should deserve. So that’s my primary goal."

The little boy says he likes New York in the warm and cold weather. However, an added challenge to children, like him, looking for adoption, he only speaks Spanish.

“You would think that language may be one of your first challenges," she said. "However, once it gets here in the U.S. and I would say after a week you're like, I never thought I was going to learn so much Spanish, and I never thought that kids will be able to learn as fast as they do."

Ricci agrees, saying it’s an opportunity for all who are involved.

“That’s the beauty of it is to watch a two-way street, as well as him teaching them a little Spanish and then teach him a little bit of English,” he said.

"The opportunity to travel internationally to a different country, being exposed to the culture, being exposed to a family environment, even if it's just like for those five weeks, what we've seen is there are many firsts," Morena said. "First time in a plane, first time riding a bicycle, first time in the ocean."

She says the program has been around since 2000 and in that time 76% of the children have been adopted or are currently in the adoption process. The organization has hopes to expand to other countries. The next cycle will be in the summer when the program brings 50-60 children to the states.

“There's still more than 3,000 kids in Colombia waiting for an opportunity, and we are only able to bring 50, right?" Morena said. "So that’s a very minimum number, but still making a difference in one child’s life, it’s worth it."

Ricci and his daughter have already learned about the little boy’s traditions overseas and hope to help him succeed in all he does going forward.

“Hopefully through exposure and through my experience, I can help in any way, shape or form find a home for these kids if it's not my own,” Ricci smiled.

In order to become a host family, or adoptive family, U.S. citizens must undergo a certain amount of safety measures with the program’s social workers. You also need to be at least 15 years older than the child.

Individuals can host or look to adopt a child through Kidsave by going to their website.