[DelMarie]

My husband and I are in the early stages of looking at options for a 2nd adoption. We would love for our little 2 year old Veronika to some day have a sibling. We have been home from the Krasnodar region since June 1, 2005.

My question(s) are:

Has anyone successfully adopted from the domestic foster car program after an international adoption?

We seem to be coming up against a roadblock because most case workers feel strongly about maintaining birth order. There are typically NOT young children available through the US. We don't want to wait for a domestic infant because of our age. I am very concerned about bringing a older (8 years or above) into our home because of the hurt and acting out issues this child might have.
We have had such a great time with our little girl that I would hate to "ruin" what we already have!
Adopting from Russia again is probably a financial impossiblity for us.
My husband would like to go ahead with our homestudy and request 4 year or younger child and see if anything happens for a year or so.

What are your thoughts about adopting out of birth order?
Any additional thoughts or feedback is appreciated!

[Jim_in_PA]

One of the significant issues you'll run into in adopting domestically from the foster system is that in many states, they prefer "family reunification" over adoption, even when normal people would shake their heads in amazement over previous abuse, etc. You may need to do foster to adopt and that means you're at risk of losing the child up to about age 8-10 sometimes. (That was what it appeared to be in PA and is why we decided to invest the money and go IA with Russia) I am not saying your shouldn't pursue it...just be sure you understand what the situation is fully in the state you live in. Some states terminate rights a lot faster than others...

[rottfann]

It really depends on your state, as Jim said. I also live in PA, but in a county that is fairly aggressive about terminating parental rights. I've done two domestic adoptions and am now waiting for my court date on my first international adoption. In my county, all adoptions are foster adopt--the county places children with you who are likely to NOT be reunified with their parents. Of course, they can't guarantee that won't happen, but most of the time they're right. Federal law now limits the amount of time children can stay in foster care to 15 months before termination of parental rights begins. (Some agencies unfortunately ignore this.)

So it is very possible to adopt domestically even after you have done so internationally...In fact, I would maintain that it would be easier to adopt domestically after a successful intl adoption because it shows you have worked through adoption issues...The stuff about birth order sounds silly to me and I've never come across it except in very difficult cases.

[ndkaff]

DelMarie,
How exciting!! Are use going to use the same agency you used for Veronika?