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How long is the adoption process? (Domestic)
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Anonymous
| I'm waaaaaaaay early in the process of thinking about adoption. I'm pretty sure I want to adopt a child 5-7 years from now, at which point I'll have two bio kids (I have one now). I'll most likely prefer a domestic adoption. How long is the process--i.e., when will it be time to get serious and start the process? Is the process different if you adopt an older child (toddler to preschool age) rather than a newborn? |
Anonymous
| It took us 5 years - but we aren't the norm - norm is probably 1-3 years. It is really about pure luck with getting a good agency and clicking with them or having good luck with private. |
Anonymous
| We used Adoptions Together for our home study and adoption. The home study took about six months (mainly because of us taking our time to get all of the paperwork together - could have been faster). It took us another month or two to put together our family's profile and scrapbook (again, our delay, not theirs). We then entered the "waiting pool" and we were successfully matched with a situation about 20 months later. So all together, about 27 months from starting the home study to placement. But there is no "typical" timeframe - it varies so much depending on the referrals coming in, the number of waiting families, and the types of situations you are open to (race, disability, prenatal exposures to alcohol and drugs, etc.) |
Anonymous
| Less than a year for domestic for me. I went through an agency. |
Anonymous
| Curious previous posters...were any of these domestic adoptions of a caucasian infant? Does anyone know if it is still possible to adopt a healthy caucasian infant anymore or is this going to put you on a waiting list for years and years? |
Anonymous
| Could people also post the amount of money they spent on this? |
Anonymous
| OP, have you considered the option of adopting a child through the child welfare system? As a former foster care social worker, I know that the turn around time for this type of adoption is usually less than a year. Also, there is such a great need for good parents for these children who are now wards of the state, through no fault of their own. You'd be amazed at how much it changes a child (for the good) just knowing they are wanted and loved, and have one permanent place to call home with a real family. Please consider it! |
Anonymous
Yes, we adopted a healthy caucasian infant domestically. It is a myth that such babies aren't available. Concentrate on the southern states. |
Anonymous
| We adopted our two biracial children from Texas. We waited 3 months for the first, and 9 months for the second. Our agency had about 70% of its clients who only wanted Caucasian infants, and their wait was years long. I've been to several adoption meetings/seminars where folks speak up about waiting for Caucasian infants for years. So while there may be some who adopt white infants quickly, it is certainly (in my experience) the norm these days. In fact, the wait seems to be getting longer for all races, at least at the agency we used (and from what people speak about on an adoption forum I am a part of). |
Anonymous
PP here...I meant "not the norm" in my post above. Sorry 
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Anonymous
I'm the one who used Adoptions Together. Yes, healthy caucasian infant, from the Baltimore area. As PP stated, waits have been getting longer for all races, at least in this area. AT really encourages waiting families to network on their own now, and has set up some partnerships with agencies in other states to share referrals. |
Anonymous
|
We are the 5 year family - we were open racially but more closed with major mental health (bipolar, etc.) and major substance abuse. We did end up adopting a caucasian child via private in the end - but that just happened to be the phone call we got where we clicked with his birthparents... it wasn't due to any match made via agency, facilitator whom we also worked with.
I probably spent $40-60,000 - I lost count after a while with all the agency's, facilitators and attorneys... our son's actual adoption was under $14,000 depending on what you included or not - actual costs associated with his adoption - we got ripped off with our first attorney and our son's birthparents attorney which blew $5000 and then we had to hire a 3rd attorney to finish the adoption and get us to finalization and basically redo everything. We spent 3 weeks in a hotel as no one told us we cleared ICPC after two weeks.... (yes, I kept bugging the attorney's) but no major travel as we were 90 minutes from home.. we had no birthparent expenses as they just wanted a home for their son nor does MD allow more than medical or legal (they had medical). (But, I'm including 5 years of homestudy and update and the advertising specific to how they found us - not all the advertising). You can get lucky quickly and it be cheap with private. You can spend a lot and go through an agency and get lucky quickly or take a long time or never - never like us and the same with facilitators (tried that too) and agency's... or do all and hopefully one will work out (my recommendation). |
Anonymous
| we waited just under 2 years, we started with an agency in DC and ended up with an agency in FL. The total amount was about $25k not including travel to FL |