[Stormy]

We have been doing foster care and waiting for a foster/adopt placement for almost 2 years now. I know that they have had very few babies come into care in our county, which is one of the reasons why we have waited so long. I did discover a private agency in our state that had a sliding scale fee. they worked out a fee for us that was comfortable with our income and the fact that we hadn't saved for a private adoption and therefore weren't prepared for a fee(less than $5000). It will be twice our out of pocket payments for the delivery of our biological son. We are driving in a few hours to pick up our son, prayers needed until he is in our arms. He is African-American and while there are concerns regarding future special needs, he is healthy. we also were just picked a few weeks ago for another baby that was healthy and was also at a very minor risk for having special needs. Her birthparents choose to parent her themselves. We found when we found this agency and told them we were hoping to adopt a child at risk of having special needs and would be thrilled and prepared to adopt a child who is African-American things have gone very quickly (less than a month). We are caucasian, we have had african-american foster children and live in a very diverse neighborhood and very diverse lives. But with both of these babies they looked and looked until the very last minute for african-american families and they couldn't locate one. I would say, there ARE African-American babies to adopt! They need more AA familes seeking to adopt. I don't know how much more difficult it would be if you were seeking a newborn without any risk factors. But my experience is that you wouldn't wait long at all (less than a few months after your homestudy has been approved).

Good luck to you!
Stormy