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Old 07-26-2005, 05:32 AM
redhedded redhedded is offline
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Hi bohtieque, Welcome. I am with Crick; I guess anything is possible but think this depends much on where you live. I read here often about people who adopted toddlers (10 months to 2 years) from the state. I think adopting infants is really really rare.

We investigated adopting through our state more than three years ago before our daughter arrived through a private agency adoption, and the information we received was not optimistic. First, straight adoption was not an option in my state; one must have been committed to the foster-to- adopt route in which there are no guarantees about permanency. (We were unwilling to do that.) Next they could tell me how many children had been placed under the age of 2 in the last 10 years; the figure was incredibly shockingly low. All of those placements of young children happened to families who were already fostering an older sibling of the young child. Most of the children had a special needs diagnosis.

There are several people on this forum who have used a "networking" service, which is essentially the same as a facilitator (unlicensed/unregulated service that matches expectant mothers with couple and/or their agency.) The difference: many networkers work closely with agencies to find an adoptive parent quickly if the agency does not have someone waiting who meets the expectant mothers "criteria." In addition, the networker, cost considerably less, with a nominal one time fee due at placement. (The "match" may require you to work with an agency that has a much bigger all inclusive fee or it may not; each situation is different.)
I think like agencies, attorney and facilitators, there are good ones and not so good ones, so one has to be diligent about finding out how they operate and with whom and to advocate for yourself throughout the process.

Good luck to you. Getting started can be so hard.

Last edited by redhedded : 07-26-2005 at 05:43 AM.
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