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hi daniellie,
1. why adopt? Always wanted to. knew that if we decided to have children it would be thru adoption. many children out there, and we have no desire to reproduce biologically, so why not? my cousins were adopted, my mom had quite positive things to say about adoption and foster parenting, so we were raised with a positive outlook on adoption. Also had friends in school who were adopted.
2. research- lots of reading, orientation sessions at the facilitator's, more reading and talking to adoptees, adoptive parents, birth mothers, web postings.
3. challenges- the seeming intrusiveness of it, the long wait (not really long but feels long). And the fact that adopting doesn't seem to be appreciated like a pregnancy. Many employers have maternity disability leaves, not parenting leaves.
4. chose our facilitator upon recommendation and thru our own research. moved to southern CA and picked agency with recommendation from facilitator.
5. my sis is my most supportive relative, and I count on posts here on this forum.
6. requirements? not sure what you mean. you have to be mentally and financially stable, and willing to place yourself under scrutiny, pass a background check, get recommendations from friends, etc. mainly have to pass a homestudy.
7. no children, other than 3 cats, 2 rabbits and a hamster. They'd be afraid if they knew:-).
8. we are hoping for a very open adoption, so we hope our child stays in contact with birthparents
9. financially, we started a kid fund about 4 years ago, socking away cash for what we knew would be an expensive undertaking. Knew if we changed our minds we'd travel to italy first class and have a blast. Opted for the kids over italy, though I hope to go again soon. Started with 10 dollars a week, put all raises into it, then split my paycheck in two and put half in the bank. Managed to save 18000+ dollars by last winter.
good luck with your research,
lisaCA
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