[Delcrest]

We are trying to adopt through the foster care system. The 'one person' agency we went with, completed our homestudy on 4/1/03. The agent then told us to 'start generating kids'. i.e. find them on the various web sites and send in the information to the agency so a home study could be sent. Per our workers suggestion, we are searching for a sibling group. And I believe we have sent out over fifty home studies so far, but we are running out of sibling groups available on the web. We did have a match on a sib group of six which we thought we were getting, but a disruption in the foster home necessitated placing them right away and we were across the country, so we believe they went with another family which was closer. We were told that our worker should do the follow up, but does not do this. Without followup, does anyone think we will ever get matched? We are in our 50's so we are open to much older children, but do not seem to be getting any responses from the studies we have sent out. I am not so sure that just sending out home studies on sibling groups will ever get us matched. People have told us to move to another agency and start over but we have so much time invested that we are hesitant to start over at ground zero. Has anyone ever been matched just by sending out home studies without any follow up or anyone advocating for them? Friends have told us to be patient, and that it is early (5 months from completion of them home study). The waiting is really difficult.

[BrandyHagz]

There are THOUSANDS of waiting children....


To me...this sounds WRONG. You should have had a placement almost INSTANTLY!

Sadly, websites arent updated as much as we'd like to think...and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of children who need homes...who arent even on a website!

Call your worker...tell her/him that you are getting very frustrated by their inability to provide results. Tell them you want to transfer your homestudy to another "service"....one that is able to assist not only you...but the waiting children that need homes. See if they allow that. That will help with the trasition/move to another agency.

You have to look at it like this, you can move agencies...which takes a few months, then get a child(ren) because they are working with you better...or you can stay where you are, wait 6 months, and continue to go no where...

I cant believe that with your willingness to accept older children, they havent jumped at matching you!


Good luck Your in my prayers

[angelical]

Originally posted by BrandyHagz
[Sadly, websites arent updated as much as we'd like to think...and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of children who need homes...who arent even on a website!
[/b]

We are also in the process of finding a waiting child or sibling group. Our agency seems to be better than this, but we are supposed to do some searching on our own. (which is fine with me; gives me something productive to do!)

We have been searching the photolistings, and I'm going to be going to the agency to look at the state Book.

What other resources are there????

Thanks!
Sharel

[Sarah0518]

We are just starting the waiting child program ourselves, so I have no advice as to has worked. But I can pass on advice our agency given to us. They told us to create a one page profile about us and what situations we are looking for and mail it to the local county social services offices in our area. Many children never make it onto the web pages, some because the offices are overwokred, some because they are technologically behind, etc. One of these offices may have an unadvertised situation that fits you. Worth a try.

Sarah

[DianeS]

1- You MUST have follow-up visits. Social workers will not place their children, who they are responsible for, in a place where no other social worker will pick up the reins and make sure the children are being cared for. Find someone to do the followup visits, even if it means switching agencies.

2- Yes, there are thousands of children waiting for homes. BUT, the ones on the photolistings are the hardest of the hard to place. Use the photolistings, but don't rely on them as the only way to find children. Always, when you inquire about a child, include a line like "please keep us in consideration for any similar children who may also need homes".

3- Either get your homestudy so you can send it out yourself, or at least prepare a one-page doc describing your family and the type of child who would be best parented by you. Include the fact you're homestudy-ready and your worker's contact information. Send it to every social worker's address you can get your hands on.

4- Find other ways of finding children and /or social worker contacts. Locate and attend a local foster or adoptive parent support group meeting. (It'll help you after you have kids, believe me!) It will also let you know the names and addresses of local social workers who may be looking for adoptive homes.


Incidentally, have you completed the mandatory training classes that you have to have before adopting from foster care? You don't mention them, so I certainly hope your worker hasn't neglected to tell you about them.

And changing agencies shouldn't put you all the way back at square one. If you already have attended the training, and have your homestudy (although you may have to pay for it to switch agencies with it), then there aren't many hoops left to jump through to sign on with a new agency. Call one that has good recommendations and ask how they'd handle a transfer.

But, on the good side, if you actually made it through the staffing meeting for the group of 6, and were only passed over because of distance, then you at least know your worker is sending out the studies and fielding any questions about you.

Finally, relax. Five months after being certified is not too long to wait for a match. I'll bet half the children whose workers have your homestudy haven't even held staffing meetings for the children yet. You could still get a call. If it's only your impatience at the lack of a match that makes you want to switch, then you might want to hold off. Again, find a support meeting and see how long other people with other agencies waited for their matches.

Good luck!

[LotAkids]

Delcrest,
I totally agree with BrandyHagz........we adopted out of the foster care system and there are so many kids that are legally free and just waiting. We were not only matched but had placement within 2 weeks of completing our homestudy. They can't wait for us to do it again.
I would find out about switching agencies. Our worker is a real spitfire and would have had us placed 10 times over by now if the judges could keep up! (And we want younger kids, the older ones are endlessly available as are sibling groups)
DianeS made a good point about the other requirements that you need to fullfill. We had to do hours of classes and CPR. Have you done those things?
Try to become more proactive with your worker and see what else you can do to speed things up. Call another agency or county and ask them what you should do. Your homestudy, I would think, could be used by anyone.
Good luck and keep us all posted.
Liz

[shanzelka]

We will be licensed this week. We found two adorable boys on the internet, and have asked our caseworker if she can help us to find out more about the boys and help with adopting them if we're a match. The agency the boys are with has already made contact with our caseworker. Our caseworker has stated that her agency is not set up to do out-of-state kids at this time. Are we out of luck? Susan

[angelical]

May I ask ... how specific are you with your requirements? That seems amazing to me! Of course it has only been a couple weeks since we were approved, and I'm already going nuts! LOL

(We want a reasonably healthy caucasian child between 2 & 8.)

Thanks!
Sharel

Originally posted by LotAkids
Delcrest,
We were not only matched but had placement within 2 weeks of completing our homestudy. They can't wait for us to do it again.
I would find out about switching agencies. Our worker is a real spitfire and would have had us placed 10 times over by now if the judges could keep up! (And we want younger kids, the older ones are endlessly available as are sibling groups)

[JuliannaTeresa]

When Networking, talk to people in Grocery Stores, or anything related to children.

Checkers and Baggers talk to everyone!

Take baked goods into a Pediatrician's Office and tell them that you are hoping to Adopt a child.

Think outside of the box!

Regarding starting over, all that it would require is that your Homestudy be updated by the new Agency. You would not have to go through the entire process again!

[Support2Adopt]

You mentioned trying to adopt through foster care and that you are working with a one person agency. Are you not going directly through DSS? Is this agency charging you any fees?
JJ