[nickchris]

New campaign aims to promote black child adoption - USATODAY.com

[SavannahGirl]

Thanks for posting Nick. I read the article and I'm glad to see that there's a promotion. I hope that they are prepared to effectively handle the potential adoptive parents that express an interest in adopting from foster care.

I would love to adopt from foster care. That's why I'm still hanging in there after four years. I just wish they wouldn't make it so hard.

[nickchris]

Hi!

I think of you often SavannahGirl. I did not research into the specific program mentioned. It was good the read of a little progress. Just a little more recruitment effort..and yea adequate staff to back up the volume.

Originally Posted by SavannahGirl

Thanks for posting Nick. I read the article and I'm glad to see that there's a promotion. I hope that they are prepared to effectively handle the potential adoptive parents that express an interest in adopting from foster care.

I would love to adopt from foster care. That's why I'm still hanging in there after four years. I just wish they wouldn't make it so hard.

[Pepperminty]

Hey, Savannah, sorry I don't know your story. Are you trying to adopt from foster care and it's taken four years? Where do you live?

We were placed with a foster/adopt toddler within a couple months of our completed homestudy. We lived in a large city with a large AA population.

[SavannahGirl]

Thanks Nick.

Pepperminty, wow two months. I'm jealous :-). Yes, four years of trying to adopt an AA female (or two) ages 0 - 3 from foster care with no potential matches. Thus the icon of me beating my head against the wall, lol. I've jumped through every hoop required. I'm in the process of switching to agency number 3. Agency number 2 is closing due to state budget cuts. It's frustrating because I live in a suburb of ATL, another large city with a large AA population.

[Pepperminty]

Savannah, that sounds incredibly frustrating. Are you applying to foster/adopt or just do a straight adoption?

We were told straight adoption was nearly a zero chance for our goal, which was an AA boy up to age 5. In the state where we lived, they just won't do the TPR until the child is already in the adoptive home, except in extreme cases--and by extreme, I mean that I know a child whose father was not TPR'd after getting a life sentence for killing two people and shooting the child in the process. So, kids who are already clear for adoption are hard to find there. All the kids I ever saw on the state photo listing who were already cleared for adoption were kids with multiple significant issues like autism, FAS, etc.

Maybe Georgia handles TPR the same way?

[Sleeplvr]

Savannahgirl

I've been thinking about you too. I've got neighbors who have been waiting for 3 years now. They should have adopted by now but the state keeps dragging things along. It took over a year after completing the training to get their homestudy done. They were not willing to foster so they keep getting bumped down the list.

I sent new pictures to DS's adoption CW last month and she asked if we were ready to adopt again. That's not happening anytime soon... My two kids are the equivalent of 6 children. LOL! You may need to start networking with different counties. Try Bartow, Cobb, & Cherokee. When AA kids can't be placed in my county they send them to Fulton. I'll see what other counties I can dig up. Your CW should have sent your info out instead of sitting on it and waiting for a call.

[SavannahGirl]

When I originally signed up at agency 2, I selected foster/adopt on the application. I know at least three families who successfully foster/adopted infants or toddlers through them prior to me joining the agency. At some point the foster/adopt was eliminated at this agency. I had to choose between foster and adopt. I was told that the state was really focusing on placing kids with relatives and that I needed to be prepared to foster a lot of kids before one became adoptable. Because of my dd, I chose adoption. For two years I searched the photolistings. I submitted homestudies for about 20 toddlers who did not appear to have severe special needs. Nothing panned out. Finally in May of this year, I was allowed to update my homestudy to include fostering. In August I was notified that the agency was closing.

Hey Sleep. I appreciate you checking around. My experience has been similar to your neighbors. It also took me a year (and two agencies) to get my homestudy done. I finished IMPACT with agency 1 in June 2006. My homestudy was completed by agency 2 in June 2007. Based on some advice that I got in a class that I took, I tried to switch to Fulton county since I work in that county and it has a larger AA population than my county but that was also unsuccessful. My SW met with Dekalb, Gwinnett and Bartow in the last year but nothing happened in my case. The state is now using the partnership parenting model and trying to do whatever it takes not to bring children into care. It's a good thing if the state can find safe places for them among family members. At the AFPAG conference in the spring, they said the number of foster children has been cut in half.

Agency 3 allows families to signup for all of their programs concurrently. I can be in their foster/adopt, state adoption and domestic infant adoption programs. The cost of their DIA program is relatively low at under 10K but I'm still praying about where the money will come from if a match happens through that program first. I'm hopeful that pursuing all three options at once will be successful. They have other offices through out the state so I think they have relationships with more counties than my current agency.

[Pepperminty]

Savannah, that is quite a process you've been through. Agency #3 sounds like it will be bound to work out since you can pursue all options. Fingers crossed for you!

[Sleeplvr]

You have really been patient through the process. Let's hope 3rd time/agency is the charm. Look through your AFPAG folder for some additional counties in south Georgia. The AFPAG conference is a great way to network and meet foster parents in other areas of the state. They are an excellent resource for finding kids who are adoptable but will never make it to the photolisting.

My House still takes volunteers. The volunteers sometimes adopt the babies they care for... I had planned on doing that at one time. I'll send you the link for their website. They only want you to volunteer 1-4 hours per month.

[manni28]

The family is beautiful. I'm sure this new campaign will find families for the children.


-Manni

[SavannahGirl]

Thanks Pepperminty for your support.

Sleep, Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. The dd of one of the three families I mentioned earlier came from My House. I actually started the process to volunteer there a very long time ago when they were featured in the AJC. I think they got more volunteers than needed at the time because of the article. They were also trying to start a mentoring program for young mothers, if I remember correctly, around that time. I was going to work with that program but they lost the volunteer coordinator so I don't think the program ever got off the ground.

[Sleeplvr]

The first newborn we fostered came from My House. She stayed there 6 weeks before being moved to a regular foster home. She only 5 pounds and a few ounces at 6 weeks old. She was such a tiny thing... I wonder how she survived being exposed to drugs. I was really impressed with how well they cared for her.

[nickchris]

Is this similar to respite care?

[Sleeplvr]

My House is a place where newborns who are medically fragile or drug addicted stay when they are released from the hospital but can't go home. My county sends babies who are going through withdrawal there. It's a much better environment than a hospital. The facility operates from donations, grants and volunteers. Most people volunteer to hold babies.