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Originally Posted By Janet

Good Luck to all that want to adopt from TN!
We have been foster to adopt for 12 years! We have had many children that we thought was going to come through and then at the last minute something happens! We had a little girl last year that we have had for over 2 years. Her mother was out of the picture for 6 months or more at a time. The termintaion was SUPPOSE to have been started 4 different times...we found out later it had not even happen until the last time. Her bio. mother was gone from Dec. to June. They had started termination and then BAM! it all falls apart. TO make a long story short, she sent back to her mother last May! We have adopted once through a private agaency out of Memphis (an older child) and once thru the state...after being scared to death that it would fall through in the 3 years of waiting for it to happen! We want to adopt again...but I know it probably will not happen. We are looking into lawyer adodtions and other agencies now. I know they will cost more, but the peace of mind is worth it. Some friends of ours got both of their children (a year apart) straight from the hospital just by word of mouth! They sent letters to all their relatives and ask them to keep their ears open and get the word out that they knew someone wanting to adopt. IT WORKED! It worked for some other friends of ours that adopted a child over 5 years of age that way! I just don't have much faith in the TN system anymore. We have had our heart broken (not to mention the childs) over 7 times.
Once the social worker even told the kids they were staying with us just to be yanked back and given back to their parents after 2 years of no contact!!! Those poor kids clung to us and screamed. They had to tear them off of us! There are alot of good workers out there that fight hard for the kids and then there are just as many (if not more)that don't give a hoot one way or the other! I wish you all good luck and God Bless! Maybe you will get lucky!! It is like spinning a giant game wheel!