[brenda123129]

Has anyone had any experience adopting from the county systems in Minnesota, particularly int he Twin Cities metro area counties? My husband and I are just starting the process of trying to adopt. We went to the initial meeting and have all the paperwork filled out. We will soon be ready for the homestudy part and the interviews. After trying for 10 years to have a baby we've finally decided that there are many children in the county systems that need families. We've been married for 15 years, just bought a house and want to fill it with a sibling group of 2 kids, either sex. If there is anyone out here who has experience with the systems in Minnesota, we would LOVE some advice and hints on dealing with them.

Thanks,
Brenda

[kmalay]

I have not had experience working with Minn, but how you deal with them is pretty standard regardless of which state and county you are adopting from. Be your best advocate. You will have to stay on top of your caseworker. When I was starting out someone told me to call quite a bit(usually at least 2 x a month if not 1x a week. I would call to check on things pretty regularly. I asked my caseworker about this and her response was if I don't hear from you, you will most likely go to the bottom of the list because you are not the one that instantly comes to mind. Once we were approved we searched all the states and their websites. We must have inquired on over 100 children in 7 months. We probably sent out at least 50 homestudies and we were chosen 3 times. We decided on 2 wonderful boys that we were chosen for in May. We are awaiting the TPR to be done before we meet them. I will say though that it was the relationship that we built up with our caseworker that helped us be the family that was chosen for the boys out of 50+ families. They were impressed on the great reference our caseworker gave them on us during the staffing along with the package we put together for the staffing. So don't give up and keep on top of them. I wish you the best.

[AnnaE]

I am in MN and I commend you for adopting through the county. Many kids need homes.We are fosterparents for a private Christian agency and also adopted one of our fosterbabies who eventually became a County baby. (Hennepin) Our story was unique though and not typical. My advice would be to monitor your progress, hang in there, call the caseworkers, don't wait for them to call you. What County are you in? Peace, Donna