[sarah16]

Originally Posted by GinaMarie119

Hi Guys... after at least two years of selling our house/moving and dragging our feet we are FINALLY sending our application in this week. I am nervous about the homestudy as well. I think that we will be fine though. I look forward to chatting with all of you as we jump on this roller coaster...

So tell me... is the homestudy really scary, or am I being paranoid DOH!

Gina

Our social worker is great. We didn't meet for very long for our two sessions. But when I e-mail her with questions she is very helpful. Good luck with your homestudy!

[Joy79]

We were just about to fill out the preliminary application. I called the agency to ask a couple more questions (before we took the plunge) and the domestic program we were interested is temporarily CLOSED! We can be put on a waiting list (we'd be 2nd in line). We were thinking of following up on another agency that we had in mind while we wait. Has anyone faced that before? What did you do?

[sarah16]

We were on a waiting list for three months before our homestudy. Good luck!

[jf5505]

We had our Home study visit last week and all our forms/papers are in. So now it should be complete by the middle to end of June I am guessing, now I need to PICK AN AGENCY ALREADY !!!!!!

I have one in mind but now am starting to look into using a lawyer instead, but I just don't know what route is better or worse.

Oh and ps..the home study process was a piece of cake!

How is everyone else doing?

[CourtneynCarl]

We are meeting our emom tomorrow. Not sure what to expect. We have talked a ton, but you never know how that will translate to sitting across from each other. I am trying to just look at it all as a learning experience, and not really expecting it to work out. We still have 7 weeks to see what happens!

Wish us luck!

[neaglesvm]

DH and I have started the adoption process, but I just got orders and will be moving in December, we are hoping to be able to work around this.

We have our phone conference with our agency on the 27th. I am SOOO nervious! I agree with cournteyncarl about this being the paper pregnancy. The phone conference is kind of like our "infertility appointment".

Any suggestions on what to ask (I just can't think, I have so many questions but just can't process them!)

Any information/insight anyone can give about Adoption Network Law Center or Military adoption would be greatly appreciated...feel free to PM me, thanks!

[Joy79]

I see that alot of people get the homestudy done first then find an agency. After you have the HS completed do you find your own birthparents or do you use the same agency or a different agency to do that? How did you all pick and choose? We have a very limited budget and we are so afraid of making wrong decisions. All these options! I'm still trying to figure this all out before we sign with an agency. I think I'm starting to read too much - my head is spinning .

[CourtneynCarl]

I would make a list of the agencies that you are interested in working with, and start making calls. Ask if you can sign on with them if you do not hire them for the homestudy, or if you can use someone else and later sign on with them. Some agencies will require an addtional fee to review your homestudy if completed by someone else, or will require you to complete additional training. Finding out up front can save you money and time. Also, in our state we have to be licensed for foster care to adopt. The FBI background checks can take 3-4 months sometimes, but our agency was willing to show us to emoms while they waited on it. We ended up getting picked a week before our homestudy was final! If we had only contracted them for the homestudy - we would not have been matched!

Best of luck - feel free to PM me if you have any other questions.
Courtney

[jf5505]

We did not want to use an agecy in PA b/c we were not comfortable with PA laws that is why we did our homestudy ourselves. Most find the agency first and then the agency does their homestudy. (at least I think that is how is usually works, I am so new I hate to give any advice b/c everyday I find out something I didn't know about adoption)

I have started my Dear Birthmom letter, any advice on what to write? I just think my first draft stinks..

[Joy79]

Thanks for the replies. You both were helpful.
Courtney
That's exciting that you were picked while still getting everything processed! I'll add that to my list of questions I have for the agencies. That's a good idea and with how expensive everything is saving every little bit counts!
Jackie
I know what you mean about learning something new every day. We've been saving for quite some time now and reading into different options and I'm constantly learning something new - which is why I am so confused! I can't wait to see where all of our journeys take us.
I obviously haven't started the birthparent letter yet, but I have gotten some ideas from the birthparent forum. There was a good thread going that talks about the bp letter. They were discussing what they would write if they were to write one. It was an interesting thread. It was really helpful to see things from their perspective. Sorry I don't have any specific advice for you, but I hope that helps in some way.

[OhMeOhMy]

Hi everyone,

My husband and I have finally decided to start the adoption process. I've been ready for a few months but was waiting on DH to finally be "ready" and yesterday we decided on the agency we are going to go through.

We've also decided to pursue a Trans-Racial adoption.

Pam

[TAP]

Hi everyone. I thought I would join. I'm very new to this forum. My DH and I have been thinking about adoption for some time. But, we are officially "moving forward". I'm still not sure if I am going to use an agency (or two) or/and a facilitiator. However, we know we are doing it .. so, we are going to start the home study. I already found two places to do the home study and ordered my packages. I wrote a dearbirthmother letter and last night pulled together pictures of my DH and I and our extended families. Tonight I'm going to take pictures of the house and the dog (because I didn't have good ones). So, I'm very excited.

I'm also thinking of starting the nursery .. simply because I read one person on this forum say their birthmother picked her because she had a picture of the nursery with toys?

We are very very excited.