[jumpstart2]

Just wanted to reconnect with those in Region 3 and see how everyone is doing. My husband and I live east of Dallas. We were fully licensed in April 2007 for 3 children ages 0-3 although we currently are only taking 1 at a time unless just the right situation comes. We are a foster/adopt family should we be blessed with the situation.

Current Placement: Baby Boy Easter 2007-present
Previous Placements: 2 and 3 year old

[lazshay]

We live north east of Dallas. We are licensed for 3 as well. We currently have 3 fc. An 8 month old girl with some medical issues, and we were just placed with a little boy (1 1/2 weeks old). The termination trial is set for July 30 on the little girl. We try not to get our hopes up, but we are praying she'll be a forever child one day. We are also waiting on news on the boy. They are looking for relatives on dad's side. Anyway, we just live day by day and enjoy the kids while they are here.

[texastanya]

We're just south of DFW. Adopted 2 from foster care last fall, and have since been on "hold". I think we're getting closer to opening up for more in the near future. We are licensed for up to 2 (more) boys from 0-6.

[rsbg]

We are east of Dallas. We are licensed as straight adopt, but have been considering switching our license over to foster/adopt. At this point in the process, we just want a little one around... even if it is for a day or for a month. But we haven't made up our minds on that one yet.

[aimeek]

We live east of Dallas and currently have 4 foster children age 7 weeks to 3 years old. We also have 1 bio son that is 11 years. We are in the process of changing from CPS to a private agency. Having prayed a whole lot, the hubby and I have decided that we are not called to adopt. He likes us to be like "grandparents" spoil them while they are here.

Aimee

BS D 11years
FD L 3 years
FS S 2 years
FS T 1 years
FD D 7 weeks

[jj712]

We are a family of five....my hubby and 3 bio girls ages 9, 7 and 2.5! We live near Grand Prairie/arlington area and are waiting for a placement of either foster or straight adopt. We are currently with a private agency in Arlington and LOVE them! Question- Do foster only homes ever communicate with foster/adopt homes to let them know of situations of certain children that will be available for adoption that are currently in their care? Or is that against the rules somehow? I just feel so helpless not being proactive in finding the children that will be up for adoption???? I look on all of the photolisting websites but any child that I feel would be a good fit for us seems to disappear when I go to look later that day???? I guess I am just anxious like everyone else waiting for placement.

Sorry so long~

Jenny

[CaddoRose]

We are completely new to foster/adoption and I'm looking for others in region 3 to help me.

We've been to a CPS meeting and are now looking for an agency, but I have no idea what to look for or what questions to ask.

Can anybody give us some directions?

[prkylee]

I am in North Dallas, Lewisville area. I have been on "hold" for the summer but as of today am on the active list again and waiting for a phone call. My last placement went to their adoptive home back in May.

pam

[lazshay]

Wow, how things can change in one month. Our littlest one went to live with his grandparents a few weeks ago. Our baby girl is now 10 months old and her special needs are becoming more apparent. Parental rights were terminated at the end of July. We hired an attorney to intervene for us (CPS was considering sending her to a grandmother). At the court hearing we were named possessory conservators, which basically means CPS can't move her with out going to court. Anyone wanting her has to fight in court and basically prove they are more able/suitable to care for her than us. We are hoping and praying they start the adoption paperwork soon so we can quit worrying.

[TxMom65]

Lazshay, I'm glad the court hearing went well for you. The paperwork is crazy in these cases.

I am in reg 4 in Texas. We adopted our daughter last year from foster care. We almost lost her several times due to paperwork mistakes.

[lazshay]

I feel pretty good because we have a great attorney that only does adoptions and used to be the DA working with CPS. She's also adopted 3 of her own. If we get to adopt Mimi it will be worth every penny. She had all the attorneys convinced we needed the baby before we even went to court. They were very carefull about what questions they asked the CPS employees.

[amouton]

Hello all,

I believe I am in Region 3. We have not yet decided what avenue we are taking but I am considering foster/adopt and also a domestic infant program. We have three already, the last adopted from Guatemala.

I have some questions for your ladies (or gents). What is the difference between working with an agency or just straight CPS. I attending an infomation meeting in Arlington about 4 years ago but I never really understood what the difference/advantage to one over the other was. If we do it, we will definately being doing foster/adopt as apposed to just straight adopt through foster care.

We are in Hunt County and when I called and spoke with a case worker earlier in the week she said that foster/adopt parents were in great need where we are because there just aren't very many here. We are looking specifically to adopt an infant, up to 6 months or 8 months depending on the situation. We are really wanting a girl this time (so that our daughter will have a sister, the family will be more even, and we won't need to build an exta room!--the boys already share one), and we are really specifically looking to adopt a hispanic or biracial baby, possibly AA (DH is worried in the area we live, there aren't enough AA families, so still discussing that). I know this sounds a little silly but we really are not looking for a CC child and would prefer one of the above also to even out our family since our youngest is hispanic.

Is there any hope for us as foster/adopt parents with these requests? The case worker I spoke with seemed to think so because there was such an overall need here. How long is it taking to get licensed in region 3 these days?

Any personal experiences with the requests similar to ours? Thanks for all the info. If could ever get our mind made up which way to go, I am eager to get started.

[zoeymnstr]

because it was faster than dealing with the government. I was told that they all share the same pool of children anyway and I liked the personal touch we got with our agency. We just got our license last Friday. We only started the process the second week of June so it was pretty fast. We are just waiting for a placement. PM me if you want to know the name of the agency. Good luck!

[amouton]

Confused....I'm am really trying to get a handle on wether foster adopt is really the right program for us. I think so one minute but then I read something else (or another website) and then I question. We really do think a little girl is in our future and since we are not going domestic this time foster/adopt seems to be the way for that. I read on several of the agency websites that CPS normally uses CPS verified families for basic level care children and agency families for theraputic level care children. We are definately in the basic care category, considering we already have three other small children, but are open to minor health concerns, ie. asthma, allergies, excema, etc....as we already deal with that on our two boys.

I'm just having a really hard time figuring out if foster/adopt is the program for us...

We want a girl

We want a baby 6-8m or less

We want a child of a minority race (our youngest from Guat is hispanic/mayan indian)

I know that the case worker I talked to said foster/adopt families are definately in need here, so it makes me think we shouldn't have a problem. And then there is the agency/cps thing. It seems a lot of people prefer agencies yet most sites I have read say they are for theraputic children.

Confused and don't know how I will ever know.

[amouton]

sorry....meant to say in my last post "we are not doing international this time" (not domestic)...it won't let me edit.