Our adoption of Yeoman Farm Baby continues to more forward; it isn't final yet, but we recently completed an important step: the post-placement visit from our local agency. Our case worker came to the house, sat down with the whole family, and we spent about 90 minutes talking about how things have been going. She had certain questions she needed to ask, but the whole process was highly conversational. She'll now write a report, which will be sent to our attorney and filed with the court in the state where YFB was born.
Our case worker shared some interesting information with us: they, and other agencies, are currently suffering a real dearth of adoptive parents. The numbers are sharply down, meaning far fewer families seeking the same number of babies. Particularly if a family is open to adopting a child of color, the wait time is very short right now. Our agency believes the uncertainty of economic conditions, especially here in Michigan, is largely responsible for the reduction in numbers of parents looking to adopt. The economic downturn has also caused problems for agencies themselves; ours was very prudent with its resources over the years, and had reserves to weather the storm, but she said that many other agencies have had to close their doors.
But the babies are still being born and still need homes. If adoption is something you've ever considered or believed you might be called to undertake, but were intimidated by horror stories about the number of months or years it takes to get a baby...this may be the time to take another look.
5 comments:
Would you be willing to share your agency contact information? Also if your agency only works with adoptive parents in Michigan? We're in Ohio. Thanks.
Becky -
Good question. I just called our agency and asked; they said they do indeed work with potential adoptive parents from out of state.
We used Adoption Associates. http://www.adoptionassociates.net/
They have several offices throughout the state. Check their "Contact" page for the one nearest you.
Thanks for the information. Last year we adopted our 3yr old foster daughter and we're trying to decide what route we're going to take for a second adoption.
As an adoptive Dad, in Virginia we used new legislation that provided for private placement rather than agency. I gave our son his first bath at 1-hour old, and we took him home from the hospital.
I pray it all works out for you, too. Best/blessings
Athos -
Congratulations!
I imagine that legislation is limited to Virginia? We could've done this adoption totally privately had our state laws allowed it. We had our own birth mother, and she didn't need an agency home study or FBI background checks to approve of us, but the state required we get that stuff done anyway. Hopefully MI will emulate VA sometime soon.
We did save quite a bit compared to having the agency find a birth mother for us, but it sounds like your route was likely even cheaper.
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