[sylviajess]

Hi everyone. I have been reading the posts for the past month. After "lurking" for so long, I thought I would introduce myself.

My husband and I have been married for 8 years. When we first got married, we wanted to wait 2 years to start a family. One thing lead to another and we decided to wait until we were done with school to really "try" to have children. Well after one year of "trying" we both got checked out and found out that we have a male issue that needs to be corrected - ie IVF.

I have always wanted to adopt a child (even if we were able to have our own) so we decided to go for the fost/adopt route. We had our orientation meeting this weekend and we have all of our paper work filled out and I think I am going to mail them out on Tuesday or so.

I know this is going to be a long process, but I am excited about getting started.

Sylvia

[ca-bigsister]

Good luck and welcome. There is a wealth of information here so let us know how we can support each other!

[Jenzebelle]

Hi Sylvia. I just want to add my "Welcome" too.

We have finished up our paperwork & had our orientation on Saturday. We are just waiting for our home study. I'm so glad I found this sight. There are so many helpful people with great information.

Best wishes with your process.

[wannabeamomma]

Hi Sylvia,

Welcome, you will find this site to be loaded with useful info. It took me 7 months to get through all the classes, homestudy etc.(and I was really proactive) Be patient and keep copies of everything.

[DannieAS]

congrats....I did my orientation in November and am through half of my classes so far. Enjoy the paperwork j/k...if you do it quickly it doesn't seem that overwhelming. Are you in so. cal????

[Yash]

Sylvia,

Welcome to the rollercoaster! Hang on and enjoy the ride!

[julierose24]

Welcome Sylvia,

What part of California are you in? I am in San Bernardino county, and had a great experience. From orientation to placement was 7 months.

What are you looking for: boy or girl, ages?

Julie

[sylviajess]

Thanks for the great welcome everyone.
Since I dont know of anyone who has adopted, this is forum is going to be a great resource.

I am in Southern California (Riverside county) and we are hoping for an infant - 4 years old, either sex.

Questions: Once you submit your paperwork, how long did it take for the agency to contact you for the first walk thru/inspections? At our orientation, we were told to be ready once our paper work was submitted.

Question: What are the classes like? What is the schedule? How soon do you start taking them?

Thanks for your answers.

Sylvia

[DannieAS]

Originally Posted by sylviajess

Thanks for the great welcome everyone.
Since I dont know of anyone who has adopted, this is forum is going to be a great resource.

I am in Southern California (Riverside county) and we are hoping for an infant - 4 years old, either sex.

Questions: Once you submit your paperwork, how long did it take for the agency to contact you for the first walk thru/inspections? At our orientation, we were told to be ready once our paper work was submitted.

Question: What are the classes like? What is the schedule? How soon do you start taking them?

Thanks for your answers.

Sylvia

Well I'm in Riverside county....if you're going through the county and not an agency...it goes like this:

I"m still waiting for the state walk through...at this time, they only have 2 people for all of riverside county including the desert so they are a little backed up....just be ready...one of the women in my class got her's done already, but she's the only one so far.

Once you do your physical and turn in all paperwork to the county as well, they will call you to set up an initial interview. At that interview they'll ask questions....lasts about 45 min-hour...then they tell you when the classes start and at what time.

If you're going through an agency...it may be different.

[HeidiK]

I also live in Riverside county but did both of my adoptions private( also a single Mom). I have heard great things about the county services out here...theyplace prettyfast. A freind had her 5 month old duaghter - 3 weeks after completion. She called a few weeks ago to see about a 2nd adoption, and she told her placemenst times are still pretty fast. Good luck

[DannieAS]

Originally Posted by HeidiK

I also live in Riverside county but did both of my adoptions private( also a single Mom). I have heard great things about the county services out here...theyplace prettyfast. A freind had her 5 month old duaghter - 3 weeks after completion. She called a few weeks ago to see about a 2nd adoption, and she told her placemenst times are still pretty fast. Good luck

Thanks for that comment...it seems to be that way, but since I'm not done with everything I was wondering about it...however, I have heard good things from Riv. County.

[vicnric]

Hi,
I'm also from the IE, we live in San Bernardino county. We are going thru a state funded agency where we can adopt from all the different counties. We adopted our first son in 2004 in just 3 months and now with our second adoption, we have been waiting for 8 months now and it's hard. We have put in inquiries for a lot of children, but we are never the chosen family. I know that our kid/kids are out there, we just have to wait for the right time.
These forums really help me get thru this difficult time and I wanted to say thanks!

~Vicki

[calimomX3]

Hi~ I am in Riverside Co. as well. My husband and I have been fostering for 2 years. We are with an agency and if I had to do all over again I would have gone with the county. We got our first placement with in a month or so after getting certified but it was a transfer with in our agency. The baby we have now took 7 almost 8 months before we got a call. But we also only take newborns.

[claschober]

Welcome to the forums! I agree that this place is a wealth of information and helped me get through alot while we were going through the process. It's always great to find people on here who have been there done that or are in the same boat you are....it just helps having people get it y'know!

Best of luck to you on your journey! I wish I could help you with ?'s about your specific county but I am also with San Bernardino County, so we are neighbors! I found on here everybody experienced high's and low's with the county, private agencies etc. so good luck and keep posting!!!!

[vicnric]

Well, I wanted to send an update! We were the chosen family 2 weeks ago for a sibling set of 3 and we went to our formal presentation yesterday and we have officially said 'YES'! We will start visits with our new children either this week or next. We have a lot to do around the house and we need to buy a new car, we are so excited!
Good luck to everyone, I truly believe when it's right, it's right. I felt this way with our first son and know with our new ones, everything is just falling into place!