[crick]

Hi everyone! Welcome to the newest addition to the Adoption.com Forums, Local Adoption Connections.

Please take a minute to tell us a little about yourself. Are you married? Do you have Children, if so, what are their ages? Share with us some of your favorite things about living in this area. What’s your favorite restaurant? Do you belong to any Adoption Support Groups in your area? Help us all get to know you better and start making local friends with like interests!

[Imani68]

We are in the southern suburbs, adopted twice (boy -4 years old- and girl -8 months-) domestically, and took both babies home from their respective hospitals.

[AnnaE]

I am a foster mom, adoptive mom (girl, age 13), and bio mom of 2 grown kids. We live in Eagan. Donna

[AdoptInMN]

Hello, I am Kate, and we are beginning the International Adoption process. My husband and I live south of Duluth and do not have any children.

[Mplsmom]

Hi everyone,

I am married with an almost 4 yo bio son. We would like to adopt a child a little younger than our son either domestically or internationally. Although checking into the foster care system here there doesn't seem to be any 3-4 year olds so that is why we will likely pursue the international route.

Cindy

[AnnaE]

Cindy, HI! We are in Eagan. I am surprised that you were told there were few 3 year olds in the county system. Keep pursuing that. Even the agencies such as LSS, Cath Charities, etc. occasionally gets an older child. LSS just placed a 2 1/2 year old. The county would be your best bet though..its also free. International will be thousands. I am often perplexed why people are so quick to go the international route. Those children have numerous health issues. The county kids have problems too but they are diagnosed and known. Everyone must do what is best for them but I would pursue the counties a bit more. Just an opinion...Blessings, Donna

[Mplsmom]

Hi Donna,

Thanks for your insight into the foster kids. I haven't spoken with Hennepin county yet but I will. It was my understanding that there were only teenagers or school age kids or if they were younger they had severe disabilities. Your comments make me hopeful. I would prefer to adopt locally if possible.

Take care and stay warm, Brrrrrr....
Cindy

[daddynwaiting24]

we are in Southern MN near Blue Earth. We adopted brothers from Russia Nov of 2006. New to the partenting game but everything is going good. if anyone has questions about international i would be glad to help them.

[rminourhrts]

We live west of the Twin Cities in Hutchinson. DH and I are currently searching out as much info regarding a China adoption. DH is currently deployed with the MN National Guard until August so the process will take even longer. Ay, yi, yi. We have 2 bio DD's ages 12 and 15. I am so glad to have found this place. What a wonderful wealth of information I'm finding.

[Mplsmom]

Hi,

We live in Edina. Russia is one of the countries we are considering. How old are your kids? We are hoping for a child under 5 as our son is not quite 4yo now. Did you get much info about the health history of the kids? How has their adjustment been? I imagine it is so scary for these kids to leave their country with virtual strangers.
Congratulations on adopting two beautiful boys! I hope we can do the same.
Cindy

[hollylou]

Hi All!

I just found this local forum. My husband and I live in Shakopee - SW of Mpls. We are in the very early stages of pursuing a sibling group adoption from Colombia.

We are still researching agencies, though I think we've found one to settle on. I enjoy being a part of the Yahoo group AdoptColombia and these forums here.

I currently work as a recruiting & training coordinator at a local non-profit youth organization.

Good to have connections with other local adoptive families! Best wishes to all of you in your adoption journey!

Holly & Robert

[lotterino]

Originally Posted by AnnaE

Cindy, HI! We are in Eagan. I am surprised that you were told there were few 3 year olds in the county system. Keep pursuing that. Even the agencies such as LSS, Cath Charities, etc. occasionally gets an older child. LSS just placed a 2 1/2 year old. The county would be your best bet though..its also free. International will be thousands. I am often perplexed why people are so quick to go the international route. Those children have numerous health issues. The county kids have problems too but they are diagnosed and known. Everyone must do what is best for them but I would pursue the counties a bit more. Just an opinion...Blessings, Donna

Donna, I don't think you meant what you said to come out how it did, and I hesitated to write this reply because I didn't want to come across as argumentative. But a gentle reminder that a child is a child no matter where they were born, and all children need good homes, not just the healthy ones. We have chosen to go international for a number of reasons, but the most important is because that is where we found our children. When you find your children, it doesn't matter the cost involved to bring them home, or the health complications that may arise, it only matters that they are yours.

[AnnaE]

I don't think my response was posted so I will in my inept way try again..No, I didn't mean it the way it sounded and I apologize. I believe God leads you to your child wherever that child may be. My point was that after being involved with adoptions for many years and having seen literally hundreds of cases, I find that the counties can be discouraging when the fact is there are so many children in Mn waiting for homes- even young children. I don't mean that MN children deserve a home more than a child from a different counrty. I was just trying to present my experience. Every child in this entire world deserves a home. Blessings, Donna

[Kristine33]

Hello,

My name is Kristine, my husband and I live south of Duluth. We are in the process of adopting our beautiful 4 year old daughter from Guatemala.

[missw005]

Hi, my name is Sandy, and my family lives in Ely! I am a single mom to J, an exuberant 8 year old 1st grader, and Q, a silly 5 year old preschooler. We are a transracial adoptive family - both boys are AA. I also was recently matched with a sibling set from Ohio - B is a 2 year old girl and D is a 4-1/2 year old boy. They're both AA as well.
All my kids came to me as toddlers or preschoolers. I adopted them from other states, all from foster care. THey have a variety of special needs - some they've grown out of, some we'll deal with for life - but they're all GREAT kids!!!
I also run an adoption support group (though mostly we just get together for fun!) in Ely - and we have domestic, special needs and international adoptive families. There are more adoptive families out there than you realize!

As for me adopting from other states - I have had NO luck here in MN. Which is funny, since I've been a foster parent for the state for over a decade! Especially now that I live in Ely - workers have admitted that they would not place a child up here, unless it was a severe-needs child that would be extremely hard to place. So......I looked out of state, and have been successful 3 times!

We also belong to Harambee, a group for transracial adoptive families - out of the Twin Cities. They run some great programs, and we're quite fortunate to have found them!

Do any of you belong to adoption support groups? Or just for your agency? I know when I was with Children's Home Society in St. Paul, it was required - and frankly I really enjoyed it. My agency doesn't offer that - so I started my own. I haven't had an event for awhile, so I'd better get cracking - especially now that I'll have new additions to my own family, and others in our group have added on as well!

Sandy