We were open to any race, some drug exposure and wanted an open adoption. Our 1st agency told us because of that, we would wait less than a year-no guarantee, of course. We were chosen at 5 months (happened to be a Caucasian baby). For #2, we were going to work independently with the help of our adoption attorney. We were advertising for just a couple of months when our attorney emailed us about a situation she'd heard about. It ended up being through an agency that places mostly African American, biracial or multiracial babies. We submitted our profile and were chosen by the birth mom because we were the only family that matched her criteria that were also open to 2 visits per year. NO ONE ELSE was open to 2 visits.
So I think being open to race and some drug exposure (this is a scary personal choice though) and wanting an OA will shorten your wait. That is our experience, at least.
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Mom to
born 5/21/07, adopted domestically on 6/6/07
born 4/20/09, adopted domestically on 4/29/09