Has anyone adopted from PA?

CBeverly · 03-01-2008, 11:45 AM

My dh and I are looking at all of our options and I was wondering if anyone here has adopted from PA and if so how was your experience?

One tattered Angel · 03-02-2008, 02:31 AM

Chris- I havent but just wanted to congratulate you on making the decission to go this route. We are still in the learning process so if you hear anything please let me know how it goes. Take care and good luck. Lesia

CBeverly · 03-02-2008, 08:33 PM

Lesia~ Thanks, I'll keep you updated!

JC_Grace · 03-25-2008, 11:33 PM

We adopted in Pennsylvania. We're in NJ. Grace is now 17 months old. I'm not sure what kind of information you're looking for.
The agency we used is Adoption House. http://www.adoptionhouse.org/ They do both domestic and international adoption.

We began the interview process in the Spring of 2005. We picked our agency in August 2005. Filed paperwork through December 2005. Had our home study in December 2005. Prepared our profile (in February 2006. Were entered into their system (they began trying to match us) in May 2006. Picked by a birth mom, October 2006. Our adoption was final in Sept. 2007. Everyone we spoke with who has adopted said that was quick. One of the reasons we chose Adoption House was because they said they never had anyone wait longer than a year and that we would be among their youngest adoptive parents. We were both 39 when Grace was born.

I'm happy to share any part of our experience. Let me know.
Carolyn

P.S. This is my first post here, so I don't know what all the info after everyone's signature means yet.

micheleinnewjersey · 03-29-2008, 02:30 PM

Hi JC_Grace -

I was so happy to have found your post. I live in Central NJ (Princeton Area) and I am having a horrible time with the adoption agency that my DH and I are working with. We completed our HomeStudy and submitted our profile in July 2007. As far as we can tell, the profile hasn't even been shown. The agency went through some changes this year and new owners assumed the agency. The new owners are very young and unresponsive. This is so fustrating because I feel as though I have wasted almost a year.

Did you adopt domestically or internationally? I have a son who is 8 years old. I considered international adoption but chose domestic so that I didn't have to travel for the adoption. My son is not adopted (biological) and quite frankly is a little freaked out about the entire adoption process. He is very used to be being the ony child! I suspect this is a very natural reaction. I am very interested in contacting this agency!!!

Many Thanks -
Michele

momof2boyz · 03-29-2008, 04:13 PM

My BFF works at an agency in PA and we are possibly going to do a domestic adoption from there later this year if our injectibles don't work. It is called Bethany Christian Services and had offices in Lancaster, Fort Washington, and I believe Philly. They also have offices all across the US so it is a bigger agency that has been around a while. I also have had a handful of friends adopt from there both domestically and internationally and they have had great experiences. HTH. GL.

momof2boyz · 03-29-2008, 04:14 PM

The website is www.bethany.org.

JC_Grace · 03-30-2008, 01:49 PM

Hello Michelle,

We adopted domestically. We interviewed 4 different agencies, including at Bethany's NJ office. I can't imagine being in the standstill you are now at, unsure of what is happening. Plus, I'm sure you already invested significant monies with this agency. It's my understanding that you cannot be working with two agencies at once, so you'll need to decide if this agency can get it done or not. You may need to contact a lawyer -- even if you have a friend who is a lawyer who could just send a letter requesting that someone contact you immediately with info you need. The letterhead might scare them into action. Or you could contact an adoption social worker. Oh, I just remembered that the social worker who did our post-placements visits just sent us a brochure that she is now offering adoption assistance. They don't offer legal representation but she might be able to give you some guidance.

Gentle Family Builders
Sandy Sabbioni Fry, LCSW (our social worker) & Dr. Robin Greene
Watchung, NJ
800-410-9211

The brochure says: "We offer education, counseling and coaching in a very supportive and gentle environment because we understand the complexities and emotional challenges of both infertility and adoption. Our goal is to guide, educate, counsel and advocate for you...."

It's so hard to make decisions during this process because it's all so emotional. And everyone's experience is different. We certainly had times of confusion and conflicting information. We had 4 different contacts because of office turn over. We requested to get birth-mother medical history at least 3 times until we finally received it. You must constantly follow up. Don't feel badly for bugging them --you are paying them to do a job. If you are not satisfied with how they are doing it, you must tell them...repeatedly if necessary (and in a nice way, I'm not advocating being nasty.)

Even now, we have been waiting to receive Grace's birth certificate since November. We are only working with our lawyer now. I call them every other week for a status report (the state lost papers and the lawyer had to re-file...).

And as far as your son, the only thing I can recommend other than talking with someone else who went through it, is prayer.

Looking forward to your update,

Carolyn