We are in the process of adopting a little girl. She is 23 months old. Jasmine has been with us for 3 months. She has been in social service custody since birth. Because she was born 12 weeks premature, she required a feeding tube. She was a special needs adoption. We are foster parents through the state but we went through a private agency because ss was too busy to do an adoption. My private agency has a grant through the state to place special needs children. We had her placed with us in just over a month after completion of homestudy. We have had a wonderful experience. When we got Jasmine she wasn't walking yet (lazy
), still had the feeding tube, and only spoke 3-5 words. In a week we were no longer using the feeding tube. She now runs, eats everything, feeding tube is gone, and she is saying 50+ words. Ask lots of questions. Do research on what you hear about certain children to make sure you are ready to handle the special need. I have plenty of medical training and a feeding tube was nothing to me. Apparently to other people it was too much. She had been available for a while. I know Jasmine was a special case. Not all children turn around so quickly. She is just an amazing kid. Talk to the foster parents if you can. Jasmine's foster mother is wonderful. We are still friends. We talk almost everyday. She had Jas since she was released from the hospital. You do have a chance of getting a child within that age range. I know of two little AA girls in my state that are in foster care. One is being adopted by her foster mom and the other will be available soon. The one who will be available is less than one and is beautiful. I want to adopt her but my husband is telling me to slow down.
I am still working on him. If you have any specific questions I would be happy to try to answer them.
Toya