[Happywife]

Just out of curiousity, how long did you wait before a match? I know we've all heard stories that if you are open to a child that is not Caucasian, the wait times are shorter. (I should say that is NOT the reason we are open to race, just something we've been told.) Have you found this to be true?

And, did that first match turn into a successful adoption?

Thanks for your input!

[tre_cani]

We were matched in March and our sweet girl was born a month later. We weren't even officially "active" with our agency yet when we were matched. We were in the agency's AA/Biracial program. While that might have shortened our wait, I think it also didn't hurt that we had a budget that was higher than most in that program and we were open to lots of drug exposure.

I hope your wait is short!

[devildogwife]

My son is Native American. We waited about 7 months before we matched with his birth mom. He was born about 2 months later and we finalized when he was around 5 months old.

[yehudit]

Hello,
We were matched about 2.5 months after completing our homestudy with a gorgeous baby girl born that morning. She was explosed to cocaine and born a month early, hence no prior match. Also, they didn't exactly know what her racial mix was, but we snatched her up and are the luckiest parents in the world.

Hoping your wait goes quickly,

[mommamarci]

With our first, we waited 4 months. Our second we only waited 6 weeks. Both were baby born situations. We did not have any failed matches either time. Our first son is biracial and our second is AA.

[aclee]

I guess a little less than 6 weeks. 5 maybe? Not sure. December 17, and we were notified we had been picked for a 24 hour old baby on Jan 27th.

[WizardofOz]

First adoption: Waited three weeks from signing up. Agency had an Asian boy who needed a family and prior potential adoptive families backed out. Had short two failed failed matches before that, lost no money fortunately

Second adoption: Waited 4 months from signing up, it was a baby born situation. (I do not like the idea long mtaches and/or losing birthmother expenses, grrr). Did not have any failed matches before that. My daughter is half Micronesian, half African American.

[kara05kara]

With our first adoption we were "in the book" 2.5 weeks until match, then he was born 1.5 weeks after match.

With our second, we were not yet in the book but had a completed homestudy- we were told of a baby born situation and we were the only family open to his needs- so bam! he was home 24 hrs later.

We had been told of a possible situation about a week before our second came to us- that mother decided to parent- so we were not matched but put on alert as again we were the only family open to that baby's needs.

I was so happy each adoption was fast, because the wait after being in then book made me a crazy woman!

Natalie
P.S. We were open "full" AA, open adoptions with visits, and some pot use...

[Magic_Hat]

We were open to any race, some drug exposure and wanted an open adoption. Our 1st agency told us because of that, we would wait less than a year-no guarantee, of course. We were chosen at 5 months (happened to be a Caucasian baby). For #2, we were going to work independently with the help of our adoption attorney. We were advertising for just a couple of months when our attorney emailed us about a situation she'd heard about. It ended up being through an agency that places mostly African American, biracial or multiracial babies. We submitted our profile and were chosen by the birth mom because we were the only family that matched her criteria that were also open to 2 visits per year. NO ONE ELSE was open to 2 visits.

So I think being open to race and some drug exposure (this is a scary personal choice though) and wanting an OA will shorten your wait. That is our experience, at least.

[JustCourtney]

We worked with a very small local agency that doesn't do ton of adoptions, and were told to expect wait was 2-3 years. Be ready for a call at any time - but don't expect it. We had our profile turned in for about 2 weeks, and were still working on our homestudy when we got the call. At the time, there were only a couple of families that didn't have children, wanted an OA, and were open to anything other then CC children. Our son is hispanic/cc, and was considered a higher risk placement because the bfather was not being named, but we were thrilled to get the call! He was born 6 weeks later.

If I were to adopt again, I think I might choose to only be shown to baby born situations - the time between matching and our son being born was super stressful for me! I would also prefer that the father was named and had agreed to TPR. The agency really minimized the legal risk to us, and it wasn't nearly as "simple" in the end. I am afraid that minimizing the role of bfathers in general tends to happen when dealing with adoption professionals.

[sugarandspice697]

I have my daughter through embryo donation and I waited two year and 4 months to be matched. I was considered for a few situations but for some reason, I was not chosen. In embryo donation, there are very few embryos of color so its actually much quicker if your open to full CC embryos and little to no birth parent contact. We knew many families who were open to CC and were matched and gave birth within 1 year.

[rredhead]

We signed with our agency in May, matched in October, and our son was born in January. So, it took 8 months. We didn't specify gender.

[sunnyrobins]

We were officially licensed for foster care in January '09, completed our homestudy in February and we were matched with a wonderful 8 year old boy in June. Between February and June we particpated in 2 other staffings. We are open to any race and ages 4-10. The first 2 children we were considered for were presented to us by our agency. The boy we have been matched with is from another agency and I found his profile on a website.

[ChromaKelly]

Our wait time from homestudy completed to matching with an e-mom was officially one week. However, we were being shown prior to that, and our HS took forever (unprofessional SW). We were shown maybe 10 times before being matched, one we had to turn down due to medical concerns. We were also signed up with a number of referral services, so it wasn't the same as being with an agency and in their waiting family pool.

[nee18]

We waited less than 2 months from when our HS/profiles were done to when we were matched and our son, who's AA, was born just a few days later! We were open to race, gender, OA, and some substance abuse. We had no failed matches. I hope you have a quick wait too!