[Forever_family]

It seems diserted but I wondered if anyone had adopted an AA or biracial child through LDSFA. We have 2 children and for a long time felt we could not go through Lds adoption agency because of the 2 child ban. We are very happy to hear that ban has been lifted. We have had many wonderful experiences leading us towards adoption of our AA or biracial baby.

I know it sounds a little strange to know our child is AA or bircial, but I just know. I spent 2 years volunteering at an orphanage in the Caribbean and we have recently become foster parents. I have had several experinces leading us to this.

Being a foster parent is about ready to break my heart. I wish I was strong enough but feel I am not. I don't feel our forever child is going to come through the foster care program and I am aching for my baby.

We have looked into international adoptions but don't feel comfortable with this option. We are very interested in LDSFA, my worry is that they are not "diverse" enough. Perhaps that is not a valid worry. I also don't want to rob a childless couple the joy of parenthood and almost feel selfish going through them, does that make sense? I just know that our baby is supposed to come to our home. It is hard not being able to have more chidlren. Adoption was something we had discussed but not something we felt we would do because we already had our 2 dd's. Life seemed very full and we felt blessed. The only way to explain it is that we know this baby is supposed to come to our home and he/she is our child by spirit. Trying to find him or her.

L

[aspenhall]

I know of other "lds run agencies that deal nearly 100% with bi and AA babies. Their fees are quite a bit more, but less upfront costs than LDSFS.

I have ZERO personal experience with them, but I have heard that the turn around time is far shorter than LDSFS. Some instances have been less than 1 month.

They are all based out of the Salt Lake City area....Lookup the word adoption agency on yellow pages dot com. Both have the word "love" or "Heart" in their names I believe.

[mamaluna]

It can't hurt to contact LDS FS and ask them. When we started the adoption process, our case worker was African American (he has since retired) and we talked with him about the possibility of adopting a child of a different race than our family. My impression was that there were no restrictions to adopting a child from whatever race or culture, so long you and the birth mom feel that the placement is a good match. Bob made it clear that having a wide range of acceptable traits on your "wanted" checklist makes your file available to more birth moms to look at and increases your chances of being chosen quickly. We are in the east and I also got the impression that children of non LDS birth parents are sometimes placed for adoption through LDS FS out here. We also had a family living in our district that had 5 (!) children adopted through LDS FS - all of them from different racial backgrounds. LDS FS will place these children whenever they can. (I sadly suspect that LDS folks in general are still somewhat more inclined to be prejudiced against or concerned about the idea of racially blended families and that tendency among our membership makes the issue a bit more confusing when you actually start thinking about adopting your own child.)

AA and bi-racial children are somewhat harder to place - I think that if you have had a strong impression that you will adopt an AA or bi-racial child, you should do what you can to make that possibility become real. Good luck!! (I hope I've been coherent. I've got a pounding headache and am off to bed to sleep - before my own new little angel starts making noise again!)

Ginny

[aspenhall]

I would edit it to say, members of the "older" LDS generations, will have a rougher time being accepting of a trans-racial family. There is a lot of intolerance in that older generation. I think your peers will be fine with it, curious, but fine. I grew up in a teeny town and the only kids of a different race in my school, were LDS and adopted...and were QUITE popular. I never saw evidence of unacceptance in our town, which by all stereotypes, should have been the most likely to reject a transracial family.

[StorkWatcher]

[quote=Forever_family] I also don't want to rob a childless couple the joy of parenthood and almost feel selfish going through them, does that make sense? I just know that our baby is supposed to come to our home. It is hard not being able to have more chidlren. Adoption was something we had discussed but not something we felt we would do because we already had our 2 dd's. Life seemed very full and we felt blessed. The only way to explain it is that we know this baby is supposed to come to our home and he/she is our child by spirit. Trying to find him or her. [quote]

I just wanted to say, please don't beat yourself up or feel guilt over wanting to find YOUR child. I truly believe that your child is out there waiting for you, and that God will send him or her to you. If that child comes to you and not to someone else, it was because their child is elsewhere, that this one is your child from God.

Good luck!

[aspenhall]

If it isn't meant to be, it won't happen. You won't "rob" another childless couple...because their child will find it's way to them regardless of whether you are waiting with them or not.....It isn't a "list" the the worker gets babies then calls the next name down....the bfam's choose the aparents, so, there is room for everyone. Besides, there may be a crossing of paths meant to happen because you are listed with LDSFS. It happened with us. We ended up going private, but only after she found our profile online with LDSFS.

[SanInUtah]

Originally Posted by aspenhall

I would edit it to say, members of the "older" LDS generations, will have a rougher time being accepting of a trans-racial family. There is a lot of intolerance in that older generation. I think your peers will be fine with it, curious, but fine. I grew up in a teeny town and the only kids of a different race in my school, were LDS and adopted...and were QUITE popular. I never saw evidence of unacceptance in our town, which by all stereotypes, should have been the most likely to reject a transracial family.

That's been our experience too. We live in a town of about 10,000. My dH and I are both of euro ancestry, our son is full blooded hispanic. Since he was adopted (finalized) the week before moving here he talks about how we became a family. NO ONE has ever openly rejected our son.

We had one teacher who is prejudiced and I had to have son removed from care. He was mean spirited, seems to be his pattern. I think that knowing our boy is a former foster kid has it's stigma more than the copper skin and wavy black hair (khaki green eyes...he's adorable).

I think our neighborhood realized that this little guy needed to be included and loved. We got lucky!

[Sweetpeasmom]

We have adopted 3 biracial children using LDSFS. We have found no prejudice or unkindness - just complete support! LDSFS does have many biracial children that are placed for adoption. Full AA are also place sometimes but I don't think it's as often. If you have any questions about our experience, I'd love to talk to you! Feel free to email me!

[Forever_family]

Thank you for all the replies! We are currently foster/adopt parents, our 18 month foster baby boy will be reunited with his mom very soon. We are planning on going thorugh LDS FS for an infant adoption of an African American or Biracial infant.

L