[Melian]

We are looking to adopt a foster child. One private agency told us they did not do homestudies for people to adopt out of state. She told us they would only do a homestudy for us if we were willing to adopt from a different race or do a legal risk placement. We decided that we ARE open to a child of any race but NOT to a legal risk placement, and there ARE two children on the Illinois photolisting that seem like they would fit into our family, so we think we will go ahead with this agency.

However, there are only 14 children on the Illinois list, some of those are tied to the Chicago area, and of course we don't have any details about the 2 kids that interest us. In case those don't turn out to be a good match, and in case we find just the "right" one from out-of-state, I would like to be able to have the option of going out-of-state. But I don't know where to go in Southern Illinois to get a homestudy that we could use with the Interstate Compact.

Does anyone know of any agencies in Southern Illinois that would let us just pay for the homestudy so we could do whatever we want to with it? Would it be better to just start with a different agency in the first place? Or is it okay to go with this agency in the hopes that one of the Illinois children is a good match for us, and then if not, out-of-state might become an option later? I am not clear whether we could just pay the agency for the homestudy after a year or what.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. And especially if anyone has worked with any agencies in Southern Illinois, I would welcome an email or private message with the name.

Thank you!