I have not been on the boards here in awhile but decided to pop in and saw your thread. We just adopted a sibling group of three on April 27th through the state. It is a long process but very well worth it!!! Considering how many children there are out there that need a loving home I would recommend it. We looked into private adoption but there was no way we could afford it.
I would strongly recommend adopting a sibling group that where the parental rights have already been terminated. That way you do not have to go through the hassle of a family member appearing to take them, or the courts giving them back to the bio parents. This is the route we went and we have no regrets. Our youngest was 17 months when we got him, and the oldest was 5. In our state once rights are terminated and the kids are placed with you, you have to wait 6 months and then the adoption will be final. In our case it took allot longer because there was an appeal on our youngest because he was a separate case. His sisters were already in foster care and he was taken at birth. We never went to court and the courts finally got to his case and dismissed it. We knew since the girls were terminated he would be too. Everyone laughed and told us the birth mother would get pregant again and we would get a phone call one day telling us we had a fourth child. This scared me alittle but we were told she had her tubes tied. This could have happened though and then we would have had a newborn haha. I will not lie, it is a long process, and can be stressful just because you have caseworkers come visit, there is still training etc but the rewards are plenty. Plus when you adopt though the state you get so many benefits as far as the kids are concerned. Our agency gave allot of support for the kids, and we received monthly reimbursements which really helped. They received a clothing allowance and we did not have to pay any court or attorney fees. If you have any questions let me know because we had a successful outcome. It is so worth it!!!!!!!!
GOOD LUCK!!!!!!! |