[tybeemarie]

Hi! We are going to interview with an adoption team/committee in Indiana this week, and we would like some insight into what to expect. Those of you who went to the adoption team, what happened? What advice do you have for us? What sort of information are they looking for? Do they give us more information about the kids? Thanks so much for any input! We don't have adoption committees or teams in our state, so this is something totally new for us.

[whoownsthis]

Have you gone to the adoption team, yet?

We were invited to a team last week in Southern Indiana, but we declined. Four or five other families were going to be there, and they were going to present more info on the kids to us as a group, then interview each family and make a selection. This is VERY different from most states...Our experience with Colorado, Texas, Oregon, and Ohio has been that the county/state weeds out the majority of families by reviewing their home studies. Then the final 3-5 families are contacted and sent more in-depth profiles and asked to confirm or decline their interest in the children. Finally (about 1 month later) those families who remain in the pool go to a final "selection committee" where a state or agency worker presents each family to the committee, and one family is chosen that day. (The family does not appear in person, but the committee reviews their family photo album and hears about them from the person presenting them to the committee.)

I like this process much better, but I'm curious to hear how your "adoption team" experience went. ??

[tybeemarie]

Hi. We did go--I posted an update in another forum, but forgot to send it here, too. The punchline is that we decided these weren't our kids. We had prayed for discernment, and in an amazing experience, we met the other couple who was also going to committee on the kids, and I KNEW that these were their children, not ours. They even looked like they were their biological children. The children are just beautiful and have so much potential. I so hope that our new friends are selected and get to adopt them! We withdrew from the process the day after the meeting.

As to the process itself, the worker got a LOT of homestudies, and narrowed it down to 25 families, then down to 5. The families read the children's information study and talked to the worker. I found her to be very generous with her time and very forthright. Anyway, the other couples opted out, most because they had been matched by that point, I think. So, it was down to us 2. There was a meeting with the adoption specialist, the children's worker, the homemaker from the days when the case was new, the foster parent, and representatives from neighboring counties. We looked at a photo album of the kids, read the foster parents list of the child's needs and what they felt the adoptive parents should know. For about 2 hours, we reviewed the children's history and asked questions. Then, the committee interviewed the 2 couples separately. During this time, they looked at our little family album. They ask probing questions about how you would respond to the children's needs. I found it to be a very informative experience. Everyone was very professional and nice.

I hope this helps! Good luck as you search for your kids!

[whoownsthis]

Thanks so much for explaining the process. Since this was the first time we had inquired about an Indiana group, this was the first we had heard about the "adoption team" process.

Thanks again,
Rebecca

P.S. Good luck to you, too!