[sjwilson98]

my husband and I are starting the adoption process in eastern iowa, and I love to see this State thread take off. I'd love to take any wisdom given.
Has anyone tried Family Resources in Iowa or IL?

[mchsgrl]

We are from Bettendorf and also just recently beginning to seriously consider adoption. We are leaning toward Guatemala because of being able to get young infants there and the health of the babies seems to be generally good. I don't know anything about family resources. Don't they do domestic adoptions and special needs? Are you in the Quad Cities area? We'll have to keep in touch.

[Hennie]

We are near Waterloo. We are in the very early stages of adoption, we are still filling out the application. I would love to keep in touch with you all if we can. I am so new at this site too that I have not figured out how to do all of this so be patient with me while I try to figure out adoption and this site!!!

[moandaa]

My husband and I are just beginning to explore adoption - we're not sure yet whether it will be right for us. We're in Des Moines & would like to find an agency or group that offers informational meetings or seminars. Do you know of any local resources? Thanks,
Anna

[Hennie]

Bethany Christian Services is based out of the Des Moines area, I am sure of. I have heard really good things about them!!!

I know that they do informative meetings and you can attend those!!!!

[moandaa]

thanks for the info - and the quick reply!
Anna

[Hennie]

adoption was this easy and this fast

My husband and I are in between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. We completed our home study on March 5th and are now wading through the large number of agencies that do domestic minority adoptions. We decided on this route because cost and waiting times are generally lower, but who do you decide to go with!? We were primarily interested in a newborn, but then yesterday we were presented with a sibling pair. They are brother and sister, 7 & 8 and just adorable. My husband has not seen them yet and is a little afraid of taking on older children and the "baggage" they might bring with them. We've been going back and forth with the pros and cons of both infants and older children and are stuck. We do not have any children and so my husband thinks it would be better to "break in a new model" but I'm really interested in giving this situation a go.

Glad to know there are others in the early stages around and I hope this keeps going. Lord knows we all can use the support!

Sunshine0510

[swtluvr069]

I have had to deal with Family Resourses In Davenport, Iowa. Although I did not deal with them for my adoption. They are nice and will help you with what ever you need.

Catherine

[dehobe]

We are by Iowa City and have had our homestudy done by Four Oaks. We have adopted 4 children, 3 from the state and 1 private. We are currently adopting our foster son who we started parenting at 4 weeks. We have 1 biological son and my husband did a stepparent adoption. We were told we could not find a newborn or it would be very expensive. We were very lucky to find our little girl. If anyone needs help let me know we have been adopting/fostering since 1996. Believe it or not we would still like to adopt one more. We still have lots of love to give and the children are great together. Deb

[carrington]

We are on our 2 nd adoption and we live in Des Moines. I worked through a gentleman for our home study that is certified through the state and is awesome. We dealt with a facilitator and it has been the greatest experience. The first adoption we were chosen 24 hours after the first call was made to the facilitator. So we tried here again and were chosen in a couple of hours. It has been a beautiful experience and we are 6 weeks out from the due date of #2.
Good luck let me know if I can answer any questions.

[Blue Irish Eyes]

to mchsgrl....

I grew up in Clinton and went to Marycrest in Davenport. Small world!
I am an adoptee. My brother adopted 2 boys but I think they were private..they don't share much about that. Have you checked with Catholic Charities? Maybe they can help.
Good luck.

Carrington

First of all, congrats on the second one, how exciting. I just want to make through this first one! You said you used a facilitator, so I take it that they are legal in Iowa? Can I ask who you used? We have not "signed" with an agency yet, we are working with Sheila Davis of Heaven Sent Adopt which is a networking agency.
I have heard negative things about facilitators and so never gave them much of a look but it sounds like you've had great luck with this one so I'd like to talk to them if I could.

Thanks, Sunshine

[mjbruch]

We are working with Family Resources in Iowa. Just starting out. We've turned in the application and referrals and will hopefully be doing the homestudy soon. I really like them so far, they have been very helpful and patient. I am overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork involved.

Just wanted to let everyone know that we were matched. Two weeks ago we left for TN to meet our new son and we just got back this past Saturday. He will be 3 wks old on Friday and is just beautiful!! We worked with Sheila Davis of Heaven Sent Adopt who networks all over the states.The agency that contacted her was A Child's Dream. It is just amazing how one day you are not a parent and with a phonr call you are! We have been truely blessed and hope that everyone out there waiting will be equally blessed soon. Keep the faith, it will happen.