[Jenkay]

We are just starting to look into adoption and am shocked at the severity of physical disabilities some of the children on the listing have. Is there a chance of adopting a child without severe physical disabilities? We are not concerned about race and we know that there will be emotional things to overcome but we are not capable of giving the kind of care that a child in such bad health would require. I hope this does not come off as uncaring because my heart breaks with the photo of each of those children but i know that i cannot care for them. We also have an 8 yr old bio child to consider. Any help would be appriciated.

[marsha4]

In Texas, the system works like this: every chance is given to the parents to get their act together and they are given assistance such as counseling, drug rehab, parenting, etc to enable them to reunify with their children. If the parents are unable to get it together to parent the children, they look to relatives. If no relatives work out, then they usually ask the foster parent who've had the child in thier home if they would like to adopt. If they cannot, then they staff the case and see if any other foster parents in the area make a good match, and if not, then they usually put them on the TARE network. Thus, the kids you see on the website have not matched with anyone. If you have not signed up for PRIDE classes yet, there's at the DFPS web site to send the information packet out to you and get signed up for the classes to foster and/or adopt. It might take a little time to have a child in your home who's free for adoption, but it is still much faster than the waiting list for healthy newborns through a private agency. If race is not a factor, then you might try the private agency route. good luck to you!

[SevenAngels]

Hi Jenkay,

We also just got started this year. There are many, many children without physical disabilities available for adoption. Most of them have some emotional trauma from their abusive pasts, but even that varies widely from child to child. When you sign up with an agency, you tell them what feel you are able to handle and they only look for that sort of child for you. Most children never even get to the website before they are adopted.

Timewise if you get things moving, you could probably have a child in your home in five to six months. We attended the required CPS meeting on February 26 and we just completed our training with the private agency. We are hoping to have a child in our home by or before mid-August in time for school to start.

I can recommend a good agency in Arlington if you are in that area.

Seven