Thread: Adoptive Parents

Our adoption hasn't been finalized yet, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents in...

When did you first think about adoption?
2002, but were put off by the process and money involved. Started thinking seriously about foster care adoption in January 2006.

When did you start the process?
Called DSS in January to inquire about the process, and started classes Feb. 5th.

What type of adoption did you do?
State adoption through the foster care system.

Did you adopt a boy or girl?
Boy

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share)

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind?
We did a yard sale and raised $1,000.

How old was your child when you adopted?
He'll be 10 when we finalize in December.

What adoption sites have helped you?
HappyMomAnna.com is great! It's for people who are foster and foster-to-adopt parents. Everyone's really nice and helpful there!

Have you or will you adopt again?
Probably not. It's been a lot more stressful (working with social workers) than we thought. We are trying for one of our own though. I would be open to adoption of a baby though, but not another older child.

When did you first think about adoption? Our second IVF cycle had failed and I was completely wrecked. We realized that we really just wanted to be parents more than anything else.I just wanted to be someone's mama.

When did you start the process? In August of 2003

What type of adoption did you do? Domestic private adoption

Did you adopt a boy or girl? We didn't specify either, but were blessed with a beautiful little boy.

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share) We went thru Children's Home Society in Florida.

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind? No.

How old was your child when you adopted? Luke was 4 days old when he came home to me. When his adoption was finalized, he was 6 months old.

What adoption sites have helped you? SC was my main source of help and strength thru the adoption process.

Have you or will you adopt again? I don't think our family is quite complete yet, so we haven't ruled anything out. We're definately open to adoption again.

Share your story (optional)....... We started ttc in 1999. By Aug of 2003, I had had 3 miscarriages, many failed clomid cycles, more failed injectible cycles and two failed IVF/ICSI/AH cycles. I had had enough of it all. I contacted a friend at the end of Sept 2003 about Children's Home Society in our area. She put me in touch with a social worker. From there, our paperwork just took off. Our SW was wonderful--she helped us get dh's portion of the homestudy completed before he left on a three month military deployment to Afghanistan and this was accomplished within two weeks of our initial contact with the agency! My paperwork went at a bit slower pace, but our paperwork, clearances and life book were all in place by the first part of October. We had been told that our wait would typically be 18 months for a newborn, so we were prepared to wait. But God's timing is perfect as always. I recieved "the call" on Thanksgiving Day 2003 that our beautiful baby boy was waiting for me at my local hospital. Less than three months after our initial contact!! Our experience isn't typical--even the SW said that--but when your child is ready for you, when you are in the exact right place at the exact right time in your life for your child, that baby will come to you. I like to tell people that my heart was broken because of our losses and our infertility struggle, but what I didn't know until my baby boy was placed in my arms was that the hole in my broken heart was perfectly Luke shaped. We've since been blessed with a biological child too and my heart just swells with love and pride with these two blessings.

I'm new here and so glad I found this board! Here's my intro:

When did you first think about adoption?
~We started thinking about adoption after DH returned from his first deployment and my cancer dx in 2004. Neighbors with a daughter from China helped with that!

When did you start the process?
~We filed our very first piece of paper in April 2004.

What type of adoption did you do?
~We adopted from Korea.

Did you adopt a boy or girl?
~We did not specify gender, but were blessed with our son!

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share)
~We used WACAP (www.wacap.org) and LOVE them!

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind?
~No fundraising, just lots of saving and praying for PENNIES FROM HEAVEN!

How old was your child when you adopted?
~He was 5 months and 1 week old when he was placed in our arms.

What adoption sites have helped you?
~www.rainbowkids.com, www.wacap.org, www.adoptkorea.com, www.spafa.org, www.koreanadoptions.org

Have you or will you adopt again?
~We desperately want to adopt again, but are unable to for a few more years because of my cancer history...there was some miscommunication about my medical history which allowed us to bring home Jack!

Share your story (optional):
~My story is so long...but after having thyroid cancer coupled with deployments we knew that adoption was right for us. Biology didn't matter, we wanted a family. We got Jack's referral on 04 March 2005, exactly a month after finding out I was really cancer free! We traveled to Korea and he became ours on 03 June 2005.

Looking forward to getting to know you all!
Cynthia

We're still in the beginning stages of adoption but thought i'd add in...

When did you first think about adoption?
2006 when we were having trouble TTC and had seen friends have such a positive experience with local adoption from the childrens aid society.

When did you start the process?
We started our classes Jan. 2007

What type of adoption did you do?
Local adoption from our childrens aid society

Did you adopt a boy or girl?
We havent decided yet, but we dont really want one gender over another.

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share)

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind?
Through our local childrens aid the fee is only $100 - they pay the legal fees.

How old was your child when you adopted?
We're hoping to adopt a child between teh ages of 1.5 and 5

What adoption sites have helped you?

Have you or will you adopt again?
We have to get through this one first! lol!
__________________

When did you first think about adoption?

Honestly, in the 7th grade. I saw a documentary on Chinese orphanages. After one later miscarriage, several IUIs, and a diagnosis of PCOS AND diabetes, we took the adoption idea very seriously.

When did you start the process? I think it was around dec. '01.

What type of adoption did you do? International - Ukraine

Did you adopt a boy or girl? A 15 month old boy in full toddler mode. Now he is 6!

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share)

Did you do a fundraiser? No

How old was your child when you adopted? 15 months

What adoption sites have helped you? I kind of stayed away from adoption sites just because I had already had so many miscarriages, I just didn't want to obsess.

Have you or will you adopt again? I wish with all my heart I could. We are saving for my bright boy's college fund, and adoption is so expensive. Going to give the TTC route a couple more tries. If that doesn't work, I am always and forever grateful to God for my beautiful and loving son....I couldn't have given birth to a child more preicious than he is.

Share your story (optional).......
We were in Ukraine for over a month in september of '02. Lots of changes going on, so we had a lot of time on our hands. We were able to experience some of the culture and so I am very happy we were there as long as we were. When they brought our son in to see for the very first time, I cried tears of joy. In Ukraine (at least back then, I don't know what it is like now), you didn't get a referral before travel. So when they brought this little boy in, he was beyond my happiest dreams. I thank God for allowing me to be his mommy.

When did you first think about adoption? Always. I was adopted (Domestic) and my sister was adopted from Korea. I always wanted to do the same as my parents did.

When did you start the process? I started the research phase in 2005. then in October 2006, I signed with my agency.

What type of adoption did you do? International from Guatemala

Did you adopt a boy or girl? Boy

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share) Bethany Christian Services

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind? Nope

How old was your child when you adopted? He will be 11 months in Jan. 2008, when I bring him home.

What adoption sites have helped you? There are many dedicated to Guatemala alone. I researched numerous agencies and programs for over 1 year, before deciding on this country and program.

Have you or will you adopt again? I would like to.

Share your story (optional)....... My website is www.bradenseeley.blogspot.com Feel free to check it out.

When did you first think about adoption?
When the opportunity presented its self to us. (Although it was always in the back of our minds, we just thought it would come later.)

When did you start the process?
We Picked Kaelin up on Sept. 4 2004 and was told by our lawyer to wait until after her first birthday (Sept 27, 2004) to file for adoption. After a whole year of no contact and no support from the BF it would be easier for us to gain legal custody.

What type of adoption did you do?
Private, open, domestic

Did you adopt a boy or girl?
A baby GIRL!!!

Who was your lawyer/agency? (if you choose to share)
We used Randall Lambert in Ironton, OH

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind?
We didn't need to do a fundraiser because our fees were less than $2000 total.

How old was your child when you adopted?
Kaelin was 11 1/2 months old when we picked her up and she was 19 months old when the adoption was final.

What adoption sites have helped you?

Have you or will you adopt again?
I think DH and I will adopt again. We have Kaelin our oldest DD, then we were able to conceive and deliver Calli our youngest girl and right now we are pg with our twin boys Davis and Douglas, so right now we are a little overwhelmed with the multitude of blessings we are having. But I really think that later after things calm down we will try and adopt again.

Share your story (optional).......Dh and I had been TTC for about 2 1/2 years when an acquaintance of ours asked us to adopt her daughter. (the way this happened was truly a testimony to God's power, but it takes so long to explain all the details that I won't put them here, if you would like to hear the whole story just PM me.) We picked her up on Sept 4, 2004 and fell in LOVE with her immediately. We filed for adoption on Sept 27, 2004 and was scheduled for a placement hearing for October 20, 2004. When we arrived at court the judge wouldn't see us because the BM wasn't present. We had no way of contacting her as she had left town, but by a miracle she contacted my FIL that very night and called us when she heard we were having some trouble with the court. She went with us the next day to see the judge and Kaelin was legally placed in our home. The mothers rights had been terminated but we had to try and contact the father. Having no info on him we had to place an add in the paper of the town Kaelin was conceived in and born in and also contact the National registry. After the mandatory time of advertisement we went to court to have the BF's rights terminated, after his rights were terminated we just had to wait the remainder of our 6 month mandatory waiting period and on April 22, 2005 She automatically became our legal child!!! What a blessing she has been to our family. Since Kaelin's adoption she has had physical, speech, and occupational therapy, She attends a wonderful MR/DD pre-school that has helped her development tremendously. She is now a very normal, very active, very sweet 4 year old. If only she wouldn't grow up so fast, it's all going by to quick for me and Daddy!!!!!

Lisa, I tried to pm you to hear more of your adoption story, but your full.

Amy

I'm sorry, that thing fills up before I know it. It's open now, if you send me an e-mail address I'll send you the whole story, it's quite a bit of reading (I'm pretty windy!)

When did you first think about adoption? It's always been something I wanted to do..although I pictured more international...

When did you start the process? We started the process August of 2007

What type of adoption did you do? Private/Open

Did you adopt a boy or girl? Baby BOY!

Who was your lawyer/agency? Cheryl Appell-Toronto

Did you do a fundraiser? If so what kind? Nope

How old was your child when you adopted? 3 days old when he came into our care.

What adoption sites have helped you?

Have you or will you adopt again? If it was with the same couple, yes. We love them! Otherwise, I don't think I want to go through it again. We'll see...

Share your story (optional)....... My husband and I had been trying to get pregnant for a couple of years. We did the drug thing, and then the IVF thing in August of 2006. That resulted in my pregnancy of our twins, a boy and a girl. Due to an unknown incompetent cervix, I delivered them at 21 weeks, both dying shortly after birth on January 3rd, 2007. I was devistated, and took time to grieve. In June of 2007, I decided I was ready to try IVF again with our frozen embies. That was a chemical pregnancy, very low beta. To say I was depressed and feeling beat down was an understatement. I wanted nothing more than to be a mom. Our house felt empty, our lives felt incomplete. In July 2007, I was doing some online surfing. By coincidence, or fate, I met a woman who would change our lives for ever. She was a young woman, pregnant with a child that she did feel emotionally prepared to raise to the best of her ability. We started chatting online. We really enjoyed each other, and were communicating by email daily. Come August, she had decided that she would like us to adopt her child, and my husband and I were thrilled, although scared of the idea of adoption. We understood that she was only 9 weeks pregnant, and much could change between then and the birth of the baby. However, we decided this was something we did not want to walk away from, what was meant to be would be, and hopefully we would become parents as a result. So the communications continued. We visited her and her partner (baby's BF) in November. It felt like we were visiting family, and that we had known each other for ever. Everything just felt right, and meant to be. Our baby was born on March 17, 2008. We saw him for the first time the next day, and he was lovingly placed in our arms 2 days after that. I won't say that the whole process wasn't stressful at times, but it was minimal, and we have developed a wonderful relationship with baby's BP's. We truly feel blessed to have them in our lives, and love them like family. Baby is doing amazing, and we could not be more thrilled to be parents. We never knew we could love someone as much as we do him. He brightens every aspect of our lives. If anyone would like to know more, please feel free to contact me, I would be happy to share more of our story! (It really is much longer than I could be bothered typing here!!!)