we've always wanted to adopt children. it's occurred to me lately that it might take a while to be 'eligable' for adoption. i imagine you need to prove that you've got a certain amount of money? does anyone have experience with adoption? i am not particular with where i'd like to adopt from, or the ages of the kids. anyone here have adopted/foster kids? what was the process and costs like?
There have been other threads on this issue in the past. If you do a search I'm sure you'll find them. There are so many different ways to adopt. Foster Care, Private through a lawyer, private because you know someone who is pregnant, through an agency, international. The list goes on and on. And the cost goes up and up. Often times through the foster care system, there is no cost at all. At times they even pay you to keep the child until the adoption is complete. There are risks involved in that the birth parents may get their act together and get the child back. Or a relative may show up who can take the child. They always prefer a relative first. Usually the child has spent a lot of time in the system. Usually the child is a bit older, over a year, maybe as old as 8 or 9. You always have the right to refuse. In a private adoption, you pay the attorney fees and sometimes the birth mother's expenses. With an agency, you have those fees and the agency fees. International can involve agency fees, government fees (from both governments), attorney fees, orphanage fees, travel expenses. No matter how you go other than foster care, it is expensive. No matter how you go, you will have to have a homestudy done. Some agencies require their own social worker to do the homestudy. Others will allow you to choose someone to do it. The main things they are looking for is that you have enough income to be able to take care of the child. You need to have a room for the child, (50 square feet and a closet and a light fixture.) You need to be mentally prepared to care for a child. You need to have plans for the child in case of your death. There's much more than that, but that is the basics. Once you are approved you have to find a child. For us, in Guatamala, the agency found the child for us. He was 19 days old at the time we accepted his referal. By the time we were able to bring him home, he was 5 1/2 months old. There was a lot of government red tape to go through before we brought him home. But he was legally our son about a week before we went to pick him up. Requirements change depending on which of the many means of adoption you chose. It's a long process. It took us almost three years from the time we filled our first paperwork until we brought our son home. You have to be ready for the heartbreak and the joy that comes from adoption. I have often said it is not for the faint of heart. Good luck on your journey. Kathi
