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Originally Posted By sjk

My husband and I live in Michigan, but only 12 north of Toledo, OH. We are just starting the adoption process and are looking to adopt a waiting boy between the ages of 5-9. We have recently attended an orientation session with MARE (Michigan Adoptive Resource Exchange) and are attending their training class for parenting a child from the foster care system in early November (the next offering.) We have been doing much reading about older child adoptions and hopefully are starting out on the right foot. However, we do not have an agency yet, which means we do not have a homestudy yet. We are looking for a Caucasian and/or Hispanic child and do not see any matches for us in the MARE photolisting. We have however found a child in Ohio that we are interested in learning more about and did complete and "interest form" for him. (Just sent and awaiting a response, up to 15 days according to the site.)
We do not know if we should get a homestudy from Ohio or Michigan or if it matters. Should we work with an Ohio agency or a Michigan agency? Any idea on how long interstate adoption can take? Are residents of the child's state given top priority? I don't think that we are in a financial situation where we can afford the homestudy fee up front. Will the one of the states still cover the homestudy fee for a waiting child? Can anyone offer any recommendations or similar experiences? Thanks in advance for any responses.