[allison888]

Has anyone adopted via an agency that was not in the state in which you live? Did you have to do a homestudy specifically for that state? Were there any other complications?

Thanks!

[Lovebug]

We used an agency located in another state. We had to get a homestudy done in our state. There were really no complications at all.

Good luck!

[mom2justynsarah]

Our daughter was born in California and we live in S. Florida. We did our homesteady in Florida, and our daughter's adoption was finalized here. The only thing you need to be aware of are the different laws in each state regarding adoption. For example, we had to sign papers (while we were in California) for Florida verifying we weren't homosexual.

[veggiegirl]

We live in WI and just adopted DD from OH. The homestudy is done in your state. In our case, the agency in OH had a very low homestudy comapred to what we paid here in WI. Funny how costs are so varied from agency to agency, huh? We will go back to OH to finalize in December. I think we could finalize here in WI, but it's probably cheaper for us to do it in OH. It's not too bad of a drive - about 6 hrs. so hopefully we'll get a Thursday or Friday hearing and stay the weekend. (or Monday/Tuesday and go the weekend before) Should be a nice getaway!

[mg1970]

We are using an agency in another state. I know several people in my state that have successfully adopted through them, however my profile has been shown twice and both times the family said they wanted a couple from that state. The agency says they tell them that this really shouldn't matter (they offer semiopen adoption as the norm) and that even an instate couple can move -- but the bias is there.

Our community is small. I liked the idea of having some physical distance between us. However I wished I had worked to find a larger agency in my state that could potentially match us.

M

[finallyamom0310]

We used a national agency with their main office in another state. The HS was for our state and then we adopted in another state and also finalized in the birth state.

[MichelleL11]

We live in WA state and adopted from Ohio. I had grown up in Ohio and was comfortable traveling there (visited my sister, nieces and nephew who lives in Michigan as well) -- we also ended up finalizing in Ohio because it had more favorable laws regarding birthfather rights for our situation (another visit with my sister, yay!)

In any case, there were a number of differences at the time (note that I think the law might have changed in the meantime so be sure to ask your agency specifically before doing anything). Our homestudy was done in WA but we had to amend before leaving to pick up our daughter with an additional form regarding safety, get a formal fire safety inspection, and get FBI fingerprint clearance (only child services clearance was required in WA at the time). Since our DD was essentially a baby born situation those differences resulted in some frantic scrambling before we headed off to Ohio, but we got it done.

I have since thought that because the agency we were signed up with does so much work in Ohio, it would've made sense to have us get those things in place ahead of time -- so you could definitely ask about differences and work getting them in your file during your wait (obviously, you may never use them, but it would avoid a rush if you did match with a child from state where they do a lot of their work).

Oh -- one more difference -- Ohio required many more post-adoption visits than WA -- one a month until finalization at six months. We were very lucky in our SW gave us a discounted rate for all the extra visits, so it didn't end up being much more -- but if your SW wasn't so generous, it could end up increasing your costs.

Good luck with your decisions.