[callystalynn]

Hi Everyone! My husband and I are starting to get ready to start the adoption process, but since he's in the Navy and we're stationed in Guam we can't start until we PCS in June of 2010. We are both new to this, have no children and are only planning on adopting. A little background is that I was adopted as an infant in a closed adoption back in 1985. Our main concerns are mostly the financial aspect, if there is anyway we can start the process while we're here or if it's better to wait until we get to California, how long it will take start to finish and pretty much how to get the ball rolling. We're both really excited, as when we go to California is the perfect timing since it's my husband's time for shore duty. Any advice would be greatly appreciated and also if anyone knows some agencies that are reputable around Lemoore that would also be a big help! Thanks so much!

[czrfloridian]

We adopted in San Bernardino Co, CA after PCSing from Oki. We actually adopted in San Diego before PCSing to Oki, and went back to CA specifically to adopt there again! We went through the county in both instances. San Diego was a smoother process, but I would do both adoptions again, and wouldn't change a thing based on the minimal inconvenience in San Bernardino Co, which was mostly due to the lack of workers there at the time. You can go on CA websites and check out all the FAQs and get into so when you get there you will have some idea of what to expect. That's what we did. Since we went thru CPS, there was no cost. Those two counties, especially SDCo, were awesome in dealing with military. We had to delay PCS orders last summer to NC to finalize our adoption. We were about 2 months late arriving here, but it was worth it.
It's actually awesome to adopt when you are a military family because you rate the maternity leave, and my husband's command was AWESOME and supportive. They let him off for classes without taking leave days sometimes. He came home early for lunch for meetings & visits w/ workers. It was easy to get licensed in base housing too.
It is very exciting that you are planning to adopt when you get to CA! Good luck with that!
My understanding is that the experiences in each county in CA will differ, but not that much, so whatever county you are PCSing to, should be pretty similar to our experience, and I definitely recommend going through the county. At least at first. It's free, the classes are convenient for licensing, and you have legal protections that you won't have through a private agency.