Can anyone please help me.
I get different answers depending on who I ask.
I have called the state and asked about how to go about adopting through the state.
One person tells me you have to foster to adopt before you can adopt.
Another person tells me that I can adopt from the state.
Someone else tells me they don't do home studies.
Someone else tells me that they do and you have to take classes, and give me a phone number to call to get classes started up.
No one will return calls.
Anyone else have these problems and what did you do to fix them.
Thank you
Erica

[whoownsthis]

Indiana is not the most proactive state, to be sure, but I was told by the SNAP specialist (who works with families who want to adopt an Indiana child or sibling group) that we really needed to complete our foster training, have our agency redo our homestudy to follow the SNAP layout, and send it to Indianapolis for approval by the SNAP committee. I also learned:

1. You can get county foster training done, but you might have to go to a larger county. (People in our training in Fort Wayne were from Allen Co., Steuben Co., Noble Co., etc.--northeastern Ind.) You ONLY need to complete this training (20-32 hours...20 hours minimum) if you plan to do foster-to-adopt (you'll be foster licensed by the agency that did your training after you complete it, pending state approval).

2. If you only plan to adopt a child from the state photolisting (www.adoptachild.in.gov? or the Indiana Adoption Initiative site) and not do foster care, I don't think you need this training. But you WILL need a homestudy. (You also need a homestudy if just fostering.)

3. Either the county can do your homestudy and foster training for free (I think) and take forever to do it, OR you can hire one of the many non-profit, private agencies in your county who can do it for a fee. (We paid for our homestudy, but foster training was free.)

NOTE: I was told that when your county learns of a child that they need to find a home for, they will always try to place that child in a county-licensed home rather than a home like ours due to cost. A county-licensed family only costs the county $23 per day (to pay the family the daily per diem and to cover the case management), but a privately licensed home (like us) can cost the county up to $80 per day. This is why they'll only choose us if none of their own families can take the child. Not a good thing to learn AFTER getting licensed, so take this into consideration.

4. This is only for Indiana, but a child adopted from either foster care or from the Indiana photolisting must stay in your home for a minimum of 6 months (generally) before you'll be allowed to file for adoption. This is why it is wise to become foster-licensed...so that you can make use of the county services available to your foster-to-adopt child while you wait for that 6 months to pass (health insurance, counseling, speech therapy, etc.). Whoever is managing the case (either the county or your own private agency) will have to visit with you once a week or so to monitor the placement for those 6 months. As long as everyone is doing OK, you'll be allowed to complete the adoption.

5. Finally, I just found out that it will be alot easier to adopt across state lines than to wait for a younger child or sibling group to suddenly become available for adoption in Indiana. Because as soon as they become available, they are put on the photolisting and hundreds of families inquire about them, which puts our chances at slim to none. In fact, most young children never even make the photolisting because their foster family (or even their own relatives) want to adopt them. I'm just not sure how long it will take to get a child placed with us in foster care to begin with.

We finished our foster training on July 24, and got our SNAP (state-approved Special Needs Adoption Program) license 1-2 weeks ago. No calls about children, yet, but it's early.

Good luck!

Thank you for responding.
I called again and was told that now the contract they had to do the classes has expired and to call back in October to start classes.
Have decided that is probably the best place to get my answers.
So now waiting until October.
Erica

[PetersMom]

Wow, and I thought California was difficult! I called our county and they said, "call this number". Called that number, disconnected. Tried numbers on the internet (yellow pages for my area), disconnected. Called LA county, they said, "You need to call Sacramento, here's the number - disconnected. I called Children's Bureau. If you are currently with an agency (we are going international), you cannot sign up with them to even get paperwork started. We cannot even take any classes - even if we paid for them! She said they wouldn't be of any value. If I already have adopted children, how can they be of no value? No one at the county or state level can even answer the question of how to get started. They just send brochures that have no real valuable info. It's no wonder children stay in foster care! No one can find out how to adopt them! When I did ask about adopting, they told me, "our goal is to reunite them with their birth family" No incentive there to try to build a family. Just more heartache. And they wonder why we are going international....

[ChrisO238]

whoownsthis is pretty much right on. Every county as far as I know does the trainings. Sometimes people from neighboring counties go to other counties to get the training done earlier or if they missed a class offered by their county they can make it up at a neighboring county. Alot of counties have the training at different times.

Regardless of whether you straight adopt or foster to adopt it was my understanding when my husband and I signed up for our classes that you have to take the classes. We were originally straight adopt but later changed after our classes were over to foster to adopt.

I'm not sure if the cost is different from county to county on the homestudy but it cost us $400 for our county to complete our homestudy.

We have had no luck in adopting through Indiana and are considering private adoption through St. Elizabeth's. If you have a homestudy already done you can have it sent anywhere. Our case worker said she would send ours to St. Elizabeth's if we wanted her to.

I totally agree with whoownsthis about the younger children. You very rarely see them on the photo listings. If you do they usually have multiple siblings that need to be placed all together.

I hope this helps!
Chris

[whoownsthis]

Hey Chris and others,
Just wanted to give an update...

We became officially licensed as a SNAP-approved foster/adoptive home on Aug. 3rd (license came in the mail the 2nd week of September), but have yet to receive a call about any kids! We're open to most medical/psychological issues, we're wanting 1-3 children up to 8 years old, and we're asking for at least 1 girl (already raised 3 boys). And yet no calls.

Maybe Indiana is going through a dry spell...Good for the kids, I guess. Bad for folks like us.

BUT the good news is that we're one of three families being considered for siblings in Oregon. (Oregon has been GREAT to work with...FYI!) Ohio might be another good state, but we haven't had much luck with them. However, they DO answer their phones and return calls.

[Indy]

whoownsthis - try sending your home study directly to all of the SNAP workers on the website. They actually sit on committes that review children prior to placement on the site. I have actually received calls from SNAP workers about children prior to placement on the web.

The SNAP's also work on a daily basis with case workers who are placing children. The SNAPs are assigned to a team, that works a region. Get your study to them.

I have adopted my sons from Indiana, Washington, Missouri, and Tennessee. Patience is something I have learned...sometimes I got it and sometimes I don't.

Good luck.

[whoownsthis]

Thanks so much for the tip, Indy!

The selection committee for the two sibs from Oregon was held tonight, and we were NOT selected.

So now it's back to the drawing board.

You know, I did e-mail each of the SNAP specialists back in September, but they weren't too helpful. I guess if I fax them our homestudy, at least they can get a better sense of who we are and what a GREAT family we'd be for the kids in their care!

Thanks again for the idea.

By the way, if Chris0238 is still visiting this board, I'd love to hear what you thought of St. Elizabeth's (cost, placement success rates, etc.). But you'll have to PM me since we can't discuss private agencies online.

[ChrisO238]

whoownsthis - I sent you a pm.