[jigger]

I'm waiting for a referral and it's been almost a month. Some people we went through our classes with got an infant 2 days after their homestudy was approved. We want a boy who's white or hispanic and between the ages of 2 and 5. The two kiddos we've sent in our homestudy on have not worked out. One had over 100 other homestudies submitted. I'm wondering if we are being too picky. We have a five year old bio-daughter and I think it would be better for her if we get a younger child. Our agnecy has given us mixed messages. They told us that it's easy get an infant and hard to get toddlers and on another occasion they told us the exact opposite. I'm very confused and am not sure how much to bug my agency worker. I don't want her to hate me but I WANT A KIDDO! Any advice or info?

Thanks for the input and support. . .

[LadyBugz]

Send a plate of cookies to the office for St. Valentine's Day with a tag attached that has a picture of your family printed on it?

Is your agency trying to only match you with children who are already placed with the agency or are they actively looking elsewhere? If they aren't maybe you should take a more proactive role. Send out your own homestudy. Network with other caseworkers.

I'm afraid I'm at the beginning of this journey myself. Are you doing foster to adopt or just straight adopt? Your friends might have been matched with an infant b/c of their criteria being different from your own: drug-addicted infants are not the easiest to place I hear. Perhaps most 2 to 5 yr olds coming into the system have siblings with them, have siblings that they go to be with in fost/adopt homes, or otherwise are outside your criteria. And I hear the SWs seem to (somewhat unconciously) place with families they already know, so the first placement always takes the longest. I would say a review would be in order after 4-6 months of no matches, asking if perhaps you need to reasses your criteria. I would think it would be appropriate for you to call them at a minimum of every two weeks for an update.

[dantheman2]

My husband and I are in the same boat. We've been licensed for foster and adopt for a month. We're looking for an older girl 6-12. I don't know what's taking so long. We are staying in contact with our caseworker every work too. Let me know if you figure something out.

Stephanie

[TexasJingles]

It depends on where you are located and what's coming into the system.

If you're looking to straight adopt, then you can look at TARE and even other state's adoption sites (there is the cutest sibling set of 3, all under 6 that is somehow buried a few pages back... if we had room for 3, we'd put in for them). For the one looking for white or hispanic, check out northwest adoption exchange (nwae). Yes, it's far, but they have kids listed that "may" fit what you're looking for.

We waited 6, almost 7 weeks (felt like an eternity) for placement of our 3 foster-to-adopt siblings. From what I understand this was very quick.