[polkadotghost]

We started out with the government also and were also told we had to wait a year. They do bend that if you want a child that is hard to place ie. older or severe special needs. It was shortly after we did the homestudy with the government that our friend introduced us to our now daughter's birthmom.

Yeah that checklist is pretty horrible. We told them when we were doing it that it makes it very hard when its all yes or no because there are so many grey areas. You can't help but feel like you're shopping. The system really needs to be revamped badly. My sister adopted through the government. After 2 years of being played around (they felt at 26 she and her husband were too young) they were finally matched with an adorable little girl at 2 yrs old with only mild physcial delays. Then less than a year, they adopted her newborn half sister. Both girls are doing amazing. The youngest has some mild breathing problems she'll grow out of and the oldest has mild speech delays and will be smaller always.

Try to hang in there the process is long and can drive you crazy. AO is much smoother than the government which gets bogged down in lack of staff, etc. For our homestudies I wasn't there when she interviews my hubby and visa versa. Then she interviewed us together.