[Shelley&Tony]

A little about our family- my husband and I have been married 8 years and we have been blessed with two beautiful little boys ages 6 and 3. We feel that we have more to offer and although we still can have children we have been discussing adoption for over a year now. We are ready to go forward and we want to adopt through the county of Riverside, CA but every phone call I have ever made seems to become a dead end so what do we do--sign up as foster parents first? Isn't there a way to be placed with eligible "adoptable" children. I am not talking about going the route of a shortcut but before we bring in a new member of the family we want to make sure he/she will be a permanent member. (yes, I know there are no guarantees) My husband and I feel strongly that God has a child that is waiting for us to step up and become her/his parents and family. Anyway, we need some step by step direction.

[acgh2003]

Hi My name is Crissy I am going through San Bernardino County and my experience has been very wonderful so far. First you need to either go to the county web site or call Department of Social Services adoption department and find out your next orientation meeting.
Next you will be given an aplication to fill out , my suggestion is to fill it out as soon as you get it and mail it in. Then they will contact you with the pride classes. Those vary, and you may have to drive to get to a location. We went to the one in San Bernardino with Ed Debelina. He is a very good guy. He teaches the classes wonderfully. We had to drive 2 hrs cause we wanted to start classes. You might have to keep calling the trainiing gal her name is Sharon Owen I believe she is really nice as well. Then you will be mailed out a letter stating that your social worker will meet with you prior to your classes this is the start of your homestudy. Ed did ours and so far we are very impressed. Then you will start classes ours went from Oct 2 - Nov 20 and just to tell you it flew by. Then your SW meets with you about 1-2 times during classes and 1 after to sign home study. Then the licensing worker comes out and I believe they have to come out 2. Then you wait for your placement. The length of time will depend on how open you are and what you are willing to accept. We meet alot of really good people. I loved our pride class and hope you enjoy it just as much as I did. Do not get discouraged you will hear some stories on here about the time frame I talked with my SW about it and I can assure you it depends on what you are open to take. 0-6 yrs is very open.... We are taking Sib sets which are in great need and 0-6 yrs. youngest a girl. Drug exposed with medium to low risk. Drug exposed is a big factor, San Bernardino is a high drug area and most children who come through the system have some type of drug exposer. If you want to talk you can call me my email is pyc4u@yahoo.com. I will try to answer any questions you have. Good Luck crissy