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Originally Posted By anonymous

If there are all of these kids up for adoption, where are they. I have sent interest forms in for hundreds of children, I watch Thurs. child every week and have called about them, been called back very seldom by the caseworker. Every state is different. Pennsylvania has a central place for the homestudy to go and then they forward it all over the homestate . In Indiana The homestudy is sent to the case worker and it seems that she must keep it and not pass it on.
It would be nice if the caseworkers would let people know the statis and reason for them not being selected. I have known of cases where children have a home waiting and they are kept in the system. What are the rules on age for adopting, is it discrimination if they turn you down and you suspect the reason is age. When the homestudy is sent to an agency it should be posted in plain sight for everyone in that office to see so they would know what type of homes are available. Our caseworker makes numerous phone calls and they are not returned. She says that she has that problem with most everyone . Several families with our agency have the same problem in getting placements. It seems there should be a better system in getting the kids placed when there are homes looking for them.

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Originally Posted By Jerry

We only started our adoption journey in November of 98. We have been told that the 2002 Adoption Initative (I think that's how it's refered to) was put into law so children would not have to "languish" in foster care. If I remember correctly children have to either be returned to their bio parents or TPR has to be accomplished within 12 months. We've also been told that when a child is available for adoption that the worker has to respond to our request/homestudy within 30 days. That would include a "no." That has not happened! It looked as though we were going to be matched, and still nothing. No "thank you but no thank you" letter, nothing. We've voluntered to work in our local Adoption office to free up key workers....That didn't work out either and I guess I can understand, conflict of interest etc. I know that it must be a VERY DIFFICULT job to match a child, so I try not to bombard the caseworker with phone calls...maybe once every two to three weeks. Graham's already commented on too many phone calls and I sure understand that one. I'm curious if adoption placement is any better now than a few years ago. Certainly the internet has helped answer questions and place some children. Maybe Graham and Smileycake can give us some insight into our currnet "state of adoption" as far as if the laws have changed enough to really help the kids. Is it any "easier" to place children now? What is a reasonable amount of time for a caseworker to give us a response after they've received our homestudy? I know in our state caseworkers are not paid well and turnover is high. New caseworkers come on the scene and try very hard to make a difference, but more often than not are disappointed with the system. We want to build our family through adoption, and we're not going away until we've done just that!

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Exactly a year ago I was where you guys are, commiserating as to whether to call the case worker, wondering if I had been "matched" with a child that THEY identified for ME. They discouraged my having any impute in the selection process, THEY knew what was best for me... cow do-do.

Finally, after a few episodes with the keystone cops, I said, "Enough is Enough. I'm not allowing a band of Bozo's who I don't even trust professionally determine my destiny" so I bailed out and went with a private agency. An agency who is working for ME. I've since been matched with two children that "I" selected,. One fell through due to some personal complications with the child, and the second will SOON BE MY SON!!!!! Hardly a week passes that I don't get a voice mail or letter from the caseworkers from other states regarding children I had identified, and I IDENTIFIED THEM, NOT THE STATE.

If you're apprehensive to call them now, and they have not proven to be responsive, it's a sure bet that things aren't going to change after you've been match and you have countless more questions as the excitement mounts.

Jerry, there is life on other planets, it's OK to enjoy your adoption and be involved in the selection that will change your life. At one point my state tried to throw a kid on me, I had read his profile earlier, and didn't feel real comfortable. I told them "no", they didn't like that, I later learned that the particular child was a trip and had been in the system for years. They thought if they threw him to me, they would have him off their stats, and it would serve me right.

I would go through the listings on the Internet. if there was a child I thought might be interesting, contact the social worker, since I had a home study, they would normally give me a frank descriptive summary of the child. Only on maybe two occasions that I was informed I would have to send my homestudy, if they were interested they would call me (New York). I understand them wanting to know who I was, but I had a need to know as well. Each homestudy sent is cost, not a lot, but enough that I'd want to know if it's worth it to me.

In short, I’d recommend that you guys cut your losses go with a private agency and enjoy your adoption.

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Originally Posted By Linda

Your story is so familiar to me. I have done the same things.

I adopted before and when I decided to adopt again I went to my home county. They did my home study. I paid them and that was all they did for me. Period. BUT I didn't find this out until I was wondering why with all my home studies I sent out were not having any interest back. They weren't answering them. They took the money and were done with me.

So I contacted the children's workers that I was interested in and also got involved with the foster care agency in my county that sub contracts the foster care from Children and Youth (who did my home study).

Since I send my own home studies out I follow up with the county when I am interested in their children. My social worker from foster care said she would also be my contact and the social worker formt he county I adopted my daughter from also said they would be a contact. I also call the agency with the child every couple of weeks to ask them to update me. They have been most co-operative.

My point is keep looking for different ways. Don't be quiet about it. I wasn't getting anywhere with Children and Youth so I contacted the Foster Care agency. I am now receiving a placement soon. But I am still actively looking at a sibling group. As a matter of fact I am calling their adoption placement co-ordinator today.

Don't give up. There are allot of folks out there trying to help. It just seems like we are standing still sometimes.

Good Luck.

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Originally Posted By Jerry

We called today to check on a couple of children we had asked our study be sent out on and found out we have been too patient. Found out we are on target, but the paperwork has been on a tramp steamer to Cleveland instead of on the caseworkers desk. Got that fixed. Should have volunteered to sort mail.
We got a study to review on one of the kids and it looks promising. Now WE get to go over that and build a "concerns" list to discuss with the caseworker.

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Believe it or not, adoption social workers say the same thing. Private agencies are always wondering where the children are because states and counties do not make them easily visible. It's easy to some critics to jump to the conclusion that government systems have a financial self-interest in keeping children in foster care, but that is rarely the reason. I have never found a state or county whose policies or practice suggested that this was their reason. (It certainly is the reason for some group homes, institutions and some other private agencies, unfortunately.)
The truth is much less easy to understand, in my opinion. It is because it is very time-intensive to indentify, assess, prepare, search for, match, place and then preserve a foster child in adoption. Social worker caseloads are simply way too high for them to have time to do it for more than a percentage of those in need. In California, and Illinois among others, we doubled the number of adoptions annually in three years (see http://www.afteradoption.org/pages/initiative.html).
That's 6,000 adoptions in the last year carried out by about 500 adoption workers (at masters degree level). They can't do any more than that, and so the other children in need of permanency have to wait for service. As it is, newly trained workers are quitting in droves and older, experienced workers are requesting transfers, because the stress of the load is too great.
Why do counties and states and the feds not train and hire more workers? It's not as if social workers cost that much money, compared to most other professions. I don't have the answer to why the holders of the purse-strings don't provide enough money for staff to get the job done. I just know that they don't. And so, the kids have to wait - there's no alternative left.....
Graham.

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You are soooo right. I discovered that you have to get right out there. The operative word is "FOLLOW UP"

I've directed my caseworker to send my homestudy "NEXT DAY" after speaking to a social worker. I also expect them to follow-up two days after it was sent. OR... have he/she *your adoption worker) say something like... "I'll send this to you next day, and will call you soon afterwards to assure that you've received it."

I'm a business person and have learned that most folks in the adoption world aren't. So I've had to give them a lesson on how to do their jobs. It has worked for us.

If you just sit back and wait because you don't want to be "pushy" you may miss the boat. The worst they can say is, "don't call us we'll call you."

The argument will be, "Case workers are busy", and yes they are, but you need answers. I'm not recommending that you call every week, but at least get a status. If it's moving too slow or not at all, put another coal on the fire (i.e. expand you search), whatever you do, keep moving.