[Mama Julie]

Hi Deb, we are doing a state adoption, and they assigned Childrens Svc Society to us; I guess CSS and also Lutheran Social Svcs sub-contract with the state for state special needs adoptions.
We had no problem, Madison (Dane County) did our home study. After it was done, our local social worker would email us when she identified in-state kids from her email list that she thought we might be interested in, and then she would submit our home study for them. There were a couple emails we received about kids up north, one in Racine, etc. In addition, our home study was on file in the Milwaukee office, so that's how a Milwaukee social worker found us for the 2 girls we are adopting. I will email my Milwaukee social worker and see if she has heard anything about a problem with Washington County, and I will let you know what she tells me. Julie

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

I realize this is an old thread, but I just wanted to chime in. I live on the north side of Madison and am in the beginning stages of adopting through the special needs adoption program.

[Olives]

Hello everyone,
My DH and I are just starting the fostering to adopt process in Madison this month. We don't have any children of our own and are hoping to get sibling group. Anyone have experience with this process in the Madison area?

I was wondering if you have any advice for us, as it is all so new and kind of intimidating to tell the truth. I don't even really know where to begin to ask questions so anything will be helpful to us at this point.

How long did you all wait to get a placement after you home study in Dane County?

thanks!

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

I can't give any advice as I am adopting through the state (not the county) and am still waiting to start my home study, but it's nice to see someone else from Madison.

[Olives]

yeah, I think ours will be though the state too... I'm really new to all of this. We've just decided to make the jump and go to an informational meeting on September 2.

good luck with your journey!

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

When I went to the informational meeting for the special needs adoption program, there were a couple people there who were adopting foster kids who were already living with them. So, it seems that with foster-to-adopt, you get licensed as a foster parent through the county, then, once you have a child you can adopt, you have to go through the state to get get the adoption finalized.

They said at the meeting that 85% of "special needs" adoptions (which seems to be any adoption from foster care) are by the child's current foster parents, so becoming foster parents first is the more common route. From the few people I've talked to, it seems that getting licensed as foster parents and having child(ren) placed goes fairly quickly, but then the adoption process through the state is really slow. Now that I've learned more about it, I sometimes wonder if I should've tried becoming a foster parent first, but I know the wait will be worth it in the end.

Good luck with the whole process, and I hope your informational meeting is as helpful as the one I went to was.

[Olives]

Wow! Thank you for all great information! I'm getting so excited for our meeting right now, I can't keep myself off of this lovely website. I hope I'm not setting myself up for a let down.

I'm nervous about the homestudy too. Did your friend have any info regarding that part of it?

I hope your wait is short and sweet, keep me posted, I'll do the same!

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

I'm not sure how long a foster homestudy takes. For an adoption homestudy it's 4-6 months, but I'm sure the one to be a foster parent is less.

At this point, I am still waiting to hear something on my application. I'm getting a little anxious waiting, so I called today and left a message with the "permanency consultant." One thing I forgot to do was make copies of everything before I sent it in, so I'm hoping it doesn't get lost or anything!

What age range are you considering, and up to how many children? I put on my application that I would consider taking one girl, age 4-14yrs, but I'm debating whether I should also consider taking two sisters as long as they are okay with sharing a room. I suppose that is something I can discuss during my home study (once I finally get to start it!).

If you like to read, you might want to check out "Adopting the Hurt Child" by Gregory Keck and Regina Kupecky. I didn't agree with everything in it, but there are a lot of real-life examples of what children who are "in the system" have been through.

I can definitely relate to spending way too much time on this site. I have a computer in my office at work, and I swear every time my boss walks in I'm on this site -- LOL! But seriously, I have learned a lot here, and I've only been coming here for a couple months.

[Olives]

We are hoping for a sibling group from 0-7 years old. We don't mind if we get placed with boys or girls but we only have one extra room so it's either or... personally I hope we get boys. Their are tons of little boys in our neighborhood for them to play with.

We are currently in the process of getting our house kid ready. We have a few projects to finish up and we have to convert the room from an office to a bedroom. DH's parents are going to give us the their bunk beds that he and his brother shared. I'm really excited to decorate a room for some children too.

Thanks for the book recommendation. I have a list of books I want to check out from the library going so I'll add it on.

Do you have children already in your home? We don't so I know this will be a huge change of lifestyle for us so we really want to take the process really slowly.

I'm really scared for the homestudy for some reason though... I just wish I knew the questions they are going to ask before hand.

[ProspectiveSingleMom]

I also will be a first-timer, so I can relate to knowing it will be a huge lifestyle change. I have tons of experience working with special needs kids in various jobs, but I know that working with kids at a job and living with them are two completely different things.

I'm a bit nervous of the homestudy process as well, which is why I want to just hurry up and get it over with. I did get a call back from the agency today, and they said the reason my case worker hasn't gotten in touch with me is because she works for LSS (who the state contracts with), and apparently their building just burned down recently!