[Sabra]

How hard of a time do you think a single Black woman like myself would have adopting a child? I want to adopt an infant, boy or girl, and special needs or not.

(This question was forwarded from the adopting.org original expert board)

[titus2farmgirl]

When we were chosen for our little boy, there were few other families interested. None of the families were AA.

In our area(Kansas), agencies are often looking for qualified families to adopt AA infants. Our agency recently had another AA infant boy without match.

In our case, the agency chose the parents, but I think that many AA birthmoms would like an AA mom for their baby.

Maybe you should try researching some agencies in Kansas and see if you can find a good one.

Good luck on your search.

[Stormy]

We have been doing foster care and waiting for a foster/adopt placement for almost 2 years now. I know that they have had very few babies come into care in our county, which is one of the reasons why we have waited so long. I did discover a private agency in our state that had a sliding scale fee. they worked out a fee for us that was comfortable with our income and the fact that we hadn't saved for a private adoption and therefore weren't prepared for a fee(less than $5000). It will be twice our out of pocket payments for the delivery of our biological son. We are driving in a few hours to pick up our son, prayers needed until he is in our arms. He is African-American and while there are concerns regarding future special needs, he is healthy. we also were just picked a few weeks ago for another baby that was healthy and was also at a very minor risk for having special needs. Her birthparents choose to parent her themselves. We found when we found this agency and told them we were hoping to adopt a child at risk of having special needs and would be thrilled and prepared to adopt a child who is African-American things have gone very quickly (less than a month). We are caucasian, we have had african-american foster children and live in a very diverse neighborhood and very diverse lives. But with both of these babies they looked and looked until the very last minute for african-american families and they couldn't locate one. I would say, there ARE African-American babies to adopt! They need more AA familes seeking to adopt. I don't know how much more difficult it would be if you were seeking a newborn without any risk factors. But my experience is that you wouldn't wait long at all (less than a few months after your homestudy has been approved).

Good luck to you!
Stormy

[Linny]

Sabra:
I firmly agree with the rest.....it should be very easy for you. We were blessed eight months ago with our baby who is AA. We went through a private attorney/agency, who did not charge us an 'arm and a leg' to adopt. We have adopted infants and older children from overseas, as well as domestically (through the system). Never have we had such a short wait!!!!!! Only four months...and we are more than thrilled!!!!!
Less than one month after our little baby, we were 'offered' two more AA babies through networks (attorneys) from our original attorney. We had to turn them both down because we felt we could not handle two tiny babies at once. I know at least one other family was found for one little guy; the other I have no idea.
I know there is a great need for African American individuals to adopt children.....infants and older. If you are considering private, infant adoption, I firmly suggest you check the website for American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. They have a code of ethics they go by; and if any are like our attorney...they know 'their stuff' well!

Best of luck to you...

Linny

[Sabra]

Dear Linny:

Thank you for the very supportive post. I am not the dear person seeking to adopt I transferred the post from the original adopting.org boards.

I will notify the original poster to come and read your reply. Thank
you for your caring and informative post.

I am sure the original poster will be encouraged.

Thanks, again.

Sabra Cossentine
Community Director
for http://www.adopting.org
http://www.adoption.com

[Beth Hall]

We find in our adoption program at Pact, that a single African American woman typically has a placement of an African American infant within a few months. I always suggest to pre-adoptive families, that they ask the agency they are working with how many families like your own they work with and how often they make placement like that you are looking for. It is reasonable for you to look for an agency that focuses on working with birth parents and adoptive parents of color and is comfortable addressing your needs as a single parent or any other issue of importance to you. There are a number of places that can help with this. And of course if you contact Pact, since our mission is to serve children of color in adoption exclusively, we will be happy to help you connect to appropriate resources. Best of luck. Beth