[amberleigh]

My husband and I took our pride classes in february of 2005. We didn't officially get in the computer until october of 2005 and we are still waiting. We were called and matched with a 8 mo. old baby girl and then told the foster family decided to keep here. All after I told my three children so they took it pretty hard. I can't believe the anxiety that comes with waiting. I can't believe how long it's taking. I want to scream!!!

[knudsons]

I am still in the processes with San Bernardino, I would not recommend them to anyone and I pray for you that everything turns out well. In this county the workers county wide are very incompetent have had multiple lawsuits filed against them and don't care of the childrens welfare at all. They give babies back to drug test positive mothers they shift young toddlers such as my 4 year old son through 6 homes in 2.5 years. They lie like used car salespeople to get you to take hard to place children and then tell you that a non legal risk placement could take 22 months to finalize. They lie about AAP rates. I just found out through medical records and a little research this week that my youngest son was in his foster home from birth until he was 2 and that foster mother was totally told she was adopting him until the day they picked him up and put him in a different home only to try unification services again and then I ended up adopting him knowing none of this background. I say go Private agency to foster adopt if your only other option is San Bernardino.

[julierose24]

I am shocked that it is taking so long. I would be going crazy, too! We have been lucky, I guess. We went to Pride (through San Bernardino) in October of 2005, and we were in the system in the end of January 2006, and we were matched with a 4 month old baby girl in late April. Of course we aren't finished with anything yet - TPR is set for January 30th, but anything can happen.

We have had a really good experience (so far - I hope I'm not jinxing myself). Have you had a meeting with the placement worker? We did that and she told us to call her once a month to keep in touch.

I am also a member of a really good support group for waiting families in San Bernardino County. I get all kinds of information there that people that work for the county don't tell you. If you want to e mail me, I can let you know when. Even though its for waiting families, I still love going - you get attached to the people.

Sorry this is so long - I just got carried away. Just remember to be persistent and don't let them forget you!

Julie

[claschober]

I too have mixed feelings about the county although for the most part things have been otay! Our whole process from orientation to the boys being placed in our home was a year and a half. From placement to finalization of their adoption was a year and we are currently waiting to update our homestudy to start again! We have been waiting 5 months and still no call to have a sw update our paperwork...ughhhhh!!!! We were told right now there is only one adoption placement worker for southern San Bernardino and I know that they are always understaffed. While we have had our ups and downs w/ some of the workers our overall experience has been the sw's love the kids they just have too many cases and not enough help.

I also belong to a wonderful support group that I can pass on info to you if you are interested.

I hope and pray that you will figure out what works best for your family and if San Bernardino county is best for you!!! Be patient and keep us posted on how things go!

[Cristi727]

We are almost done with the long process of adopting our boys. We had a private agency, but of course had to deal with county workers as well. Our process was long, over 3 years, because they continued to give the birth mother chance after chance. They explained that they did this so when it went to TPR that there would be no chance at a reversal during an appeal. I was frusterated sometimes, but while we waited for the appeal decesion, that lasted 10 long months, it helped to know that the county went above and beyond to help the bio mother.
We were blessed with our workers, although our foster worker was slow with paper work, she really cared for our boys. Our adoption worker has been great, on top of all paper work, and returns my calls in a timely manner. When she went on medical leave her supervisor filled in for her and was more than happy to answer my questions.

All in all I agree that the process is long and stressful however, I understand why they have to jump through all these hoops, it is for insurance.

I disagree that they don't care about the children, and I am sorry for those that ran into the workers that formed their negative opinons about the whole county.

Although my family needs a break from the system for awhile we plan to adopt again from the county, and wish everyone else well.

[claschober]

Amberleigh-

Do you have an update for us? We just went to a Christmas party this past weekend for San Bernardino families and their children and while my kids had a blast it was so heart wrenching at the same time. I forget sometimes how big our county is and how many foster children there are in it.
We are in the process of trying to update our homestudy so we can adopt again and of course the county is dragging their feet and taking their time. It is so frustrating and bothersome and I am sorry to hear that you have been waiting for so long...is there someone you can call and have them check your file for you? I know depending on where you are in the county there may only be one placement worker. The adoption placement worker in our area is also the same woman who wrote our homestudy and did our PRIDE training so it's nice to know who she is even though I know she is extremely overworked and busy...my only suggestion to you is to just keep calling and bugging them!

Best of luck and keep us updated!

[lashera]

Hi my husband and i are adopting from san bernardino also and so far every thing has been great. I was just wondereing who was your sw. Ours is named Wa Li and she is great also my sister works for this county.

[claschober]

It's been almost two years since I posted on this thread....we actually just let our license lapse as we are done working with the county and our family is complete...overall we had a wonderful experience with the county and have three amazing boys as a result...best of luck to you on your journey!!!