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Heather~~
We looked into adopting from our state's waiting child program... for lots of reasons, we decided that was not the way we wanted to go...our age; we wanted a child under 2-and they said they had enough waiting families for those kids, and would only consider us for children 8 or older; we already have 6 bio kids age 13 to 4, and only have a 5 bdrm home, and that's not enough room in their opinion; we would have to take a series of 10 parenting classes-frankly, since we already have 6, I think that would be a total waste of our time and resources. My husband has a cousin who used to work for Lutheran Social Servies, and he cautioned us against going the "state" route...he said it just took too much time, too much red tape, too much heartbreak, when there are so many children out there, and families who want to adopt, but all the hoops you have to go through make it a very frustrating experience for everyone involved, even the caseworkers. It breaks my heart that we can't help one of the waiting children, I know there are many that will stay their entire lives "in the system."
We were matched with our birthmom just three months after starting our adoption journey, and our baby is due Jan. 30, '03! We feel like this is the right solution for our family--no age requirements-for us *or* the child, we will be adopting an infant at birth, no high agency fees, no requirements for parenting classes, etc. We know if we had gone the state route, we would just barely be started with all the paperwork, and classes, and who knows how long it would be before we got a child. As of today, we have 23 donations from local businesses, and we aren't even half way through our contact list. I think we will have a very successful silent auction, and this will help our adoption resources tremendously. I think the important thing for prospective families to consider is to look at *all* the options available, research everything very well, and then make the best decision for *your* family, based on what you know about your family's needs, resources, etc.
Musicmama
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