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(I am working on the assumption that this child is in the USA in foster care. If the child is in a different country, or being placed privately, post that and you'll get different answers.)
Finding a child is actually one of the very last steps on the adoption journey.
Before you identify a child you're interested in and express that interest with any hope of having it answered, you need to have an agency, homestudy, and completed training.
Yes, sometimes it works that you can find a child first, and then do those. But in most cases the child you found will be adopted by somebody else while you're in the process.
In most states, the classes you'll need last for 10 weeks, and are called either MAPP or PRIDE classes. The homestudy takes anywhere from one visit to a series over a month or two. Sometimes they can be done the same times as the classes, sometimes they are done after the classes.
Social workers are really overworked. In addition to the actual time taken by the classes and the homestudy, you spend a lot of time waiting for workers to call you back or find time to make appointments.
Of course a worker isn't going to "hold" a child for an interested family who isn't actually ready to adopt, if there are other families who are interested AND ready. That wouldn't be fair to the child, to sit in foster care and wait longer.
Once you have completed training and have a homestudy, your worker can inquire about that child for you, as well as any other children who would fit well in your family.
If you're interested in adopting a child who is in foster care, your first stop is with the social services department of the state you live in. Call and ask about the requirements for adopting from foster care. They should be able to tell you how to start, and when the next set of classes begin. Also check to see if private agencies in your state are permitted to licence people to adopt from foster care - some have different training schedules that may fit your schedule better.
Don't assume the training tells you everything you need to know. IT DOES NOT!!! You'll need to do your own research to see if a previously abused or neglected child would fit in your family, and if a child older and stronger than your children would fit in your family. Abused and neglected children need an entirely different style of parenting, which you'll have to learn. And children who were abused tend to repeat that abuse on smaller children with a frightening degree of regularity. Not all of them, of course. But it is terribly difficult to guess ahead of time which will and which won't. So do your research to be prepared for that, and learn how to help prevent it from happening (both in how to select a child, and how to prevent it even if the child has those tendencies).
I wish you luck!
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