[1stTimeFutureMommy]

Hey there! My husband and I are dual military (though I will be out of the Army at the end of next year--yay!)

We want to adopt and are so excited to get started! This would be my first child and our first child together. Right now we keep flitting between adopting a toddler from Bulgaria, Fostering to adopt, and Domestic infant adoption...

Does anyone have any experiences to share? We would welcome any advice and/or references, and other military contacts who have adopted or are in the process of adoption.

Thank you!

[misstippy]

My husband is in the Army and we are trying to adopt domestically and are hoping for an infant - but would be equally happy to adopt a toddler. We did look into adopting from foster care, but wanted to adopt toddler age or younger and were a bit discouraged in discussions with the state program here - only in that it could take a very long time and many children might come and go before we were able to adopt. I do know that some people get very lucky and adopt quickly that way though, my co-worker did. I think you often have to be open to sibling groups though and older children (8+) are definitely the children that are most in need of homes.

Neither of us have children and while we don't feel compelled to absolutely have an infant, we really do want to go through the toddler phase with a child! So we decided on domestic infant adoption. We are networking with several agencies and did not sign on with only one. We found agencies with little to no application fee and are going that route, along with posting our profile on Parent Profiles. As far as international, we never really discussed that - I think primarily because of the travel required, etc - which may be a bit challenging with my husband in the military.

Feel free to PM me with any questions, etc! I will do all I can to fill you in on how it has been for us so far.