[Gospelfan]

So, how did most of ya'll find your older kids?
Anyone adopt from a photo listing?

We're just in the beginning stages, we start training in two weeks, so we are getting our house ready for two teens (we hope). So, I can't answer this one yet... but I'm curious about how you guys met your kids.

In His Service,
Gospelfan

[Lorraine123]

My daughter was on a photolisting (out of state).

[jazzysmom]

Our first adoption, we were foster parents and had our daughters biological mom in care. Second, we talked to a adoption worker thru DHS and got our next 4 kids. The last ones were on Texas website.

[jazzysmom]

Gospelfan, are you hoping for girls, boys or one of each?

[Gospelfan]

Hard to answer... I found a girl i used ot have in my house at a children's home and her little brother. She's 13, he'll be 13 in Oct (exactly 9mos apart.)
IF these kiddos aren't the best placement for us, then we're open to any combo.

[crick]

We worked through a private agency that worked with the foster care system. They got the pics and intro on our sibling group from the social worker and thought we'd be a good match so sent us the info to see if we were interested.

So just be aware..if you say you are open to sibling group and you meant 2 kids (we did) you might get 4 as we did! LOL!

[Gospelfan]

I could go with that in a heart beat... but I think my husband is a lil more cautious (read that realistic, logical, etc) about not jumping in too far over our head at our first time parenting.
hehehe
~ Gospelfan

[MilehighDad]

1st adoption (wanted 4-6 yr girl, got 3 days old)
- Waited in LA county on 2 year waiting list for first available girl under age 9.

2nd adoption (14 yr girl) - Saw her on Wednesday's Child (newscast) and went through our county to adopt her

3rd adoption (11 yr girl) - Saw her on photolisting in another state, will finalize next week!

[millie58]

L, was my fs who I adopted. I got his brother, P, who was 11 from a group home. My last 2 were fs's who I then adopted.

[trixiebell]

Photo listing for us, I didn't see them, our social worker did, my searches were set for kids 0-12, she found a pair of brothers, 12 and13 with medical needs (which we are very open to as I am a nurse), emailed me and two months later our kids arrived home last night and 65 weeks of weekend visits! They are older then I ever imagined I would be okay with adopting but I find myself looking at them and thinking that I am exactly where I am meant to be and the kids have adjusted really well over the visiting period

[peregrinerose]

Originally Posted by Gospelfan

I could go with that in a heart beat... but I think my husband is a lil more cautious (read that realistic, logical, etc) about not jumping in too far over our head at our first time parenting.
hehehe
~ Gospelfan

Our teen is our first adoption too. He'll be finalized this fall. We work with a private agency that has a grant through Wendy's Wonderful Kids to place 64 'hard to adopt' kids... virtually all of them are teenagers, most with some form of special need (ours has a rich history of behavioral issues, although he's been fine with us).

We opted to give preference for those kids, as we could talk with their case workers through the adoption agency and get a much more personal feel for what the kids are like than just the 30+ page child profiles. It was actually really helpful in getting a feel for the kids. As soon as I read our son's profile, I knew he was a perfect match for us, and this was confirmed talking with his case worker through our agency and getting that more personal info (his great sense of humor, how personable he is, how he wants to be adopted, etc).

Our next adoption, once our son is finalized, we will do the same thing, give preference to those kids first, as well as kids from the same county our son is from (it's a very screwed up county by way of foster care we want to get a kid out of that situation) now that we have case workers in the county that know us.

[kg02]

We met our 6.5 year old little girl at an adoption party hosted by the DCF. We didn't expect to, and had been waiting for over 6 months to finally be approved to start talking to social workers since the FBI could not read my wife's fingerprints (fingerprints of foster and adoptive families are a requirement since Nov. in Mass.). But we were chatting with smoe social workers about other children, and one said why don't you come over and meet this little girl. She had a kitty cat face painted on, and the rest is history.

She moves in tomorrow! Yay.
Scared and nervous dad,
K

[mother2224]

We worked through a private agency that contracts with a state agency. We waited about 9 months with a request for one child under 3 with low legal risk.

One day, I spoke to our caseworker and she told me how difficult it is to get children that young who are close to tpr. The very next day, she called and told me we were chosen for 2 siblings (boy and girl) who were 3 and 4 at the time. They were as close to tpr as you could get without actually having it done. We have one more month to go until our 6 month wait is up and we can adopt them. Crazy ride, we have these 2 kids and a 4 yo DS and a 7 yo DD --- but a lot of fun!!

[joskimo]

we're matched to adopt a 7 y.o. boy from our state photolisting. I think placement will be quicker then normal because we're licenced foster parents in the state, not sure how long the adoption will take but I"m hoping less then a year.

[ncblueeyes]

Im a newbie and ive only been approved to foster and/or adopt since May but it seems that the photolistings get me all excited but when i get no replies for some time, i feel like they are not considering our family. Its frustrating form me at times, but i started to email the workers of the children for followups and that seems to keep me in the loop now.

I search only the state websites and adoptuskids. I have an approved homestudy. Is there anywhere else i can go? I am going thru an agency that works thru state.