Wait for domestic adoption

[widdleweeda]

We are just getting started with the adoption process. Can anyone suggest an adoption agency that provides services on the east coast? We are using a separate agency for the home study because their wait can be up to 5 yrs for a Caucasian infant. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Lisa

[sue in CA]

Welcome to the board. I'm on the west coast so can't help you with agency suggestions. I think a 5 year wait is a sign that your agency isn't doing much if any outreach. Good luck

[mommyatlast]

http://www3.fertilethoughts.com/foru...d.php?t=332733

This brings you to the list on this site of agencies and who has commentary about them. Hopefully, that way you can see who has used agencies you may be interested in.

Good luck!

(We are on the East Coast, but used an agency in Texas).

[widdleweeda]

Thanks for the info, all of this is so overwhelming. Has anyone had any luck with American Adoptions? I noticed several people used Adoption Circle in Ohio, those who did how long was your wait? After dealing with IF for so long I am ready to be a mommy!

Thanks,
Lisa

[maj90]

Lisa-we used an agency in Oklahoma and the wait was 6-12mos. We were approved by our agency in March 03 and DD was born in Jan 04. Not too bad of a wait. But that list that mommyatlast gave you should help quite a bit. and don't hesitate to ask questions

[ssh]

Waits are/can be all over the place. Our agency told us the average is 12 months, but could be as long as 18 months. We submitted our application in March of 04, our homestudy in May of 04, our letters/profile in July 04 and our DD was born in Sept 04. Our total wait from start to finish wsa 6 months, but only 10 weeks from the time we completed all of our required materials. It was very fast.

It really depends on so many factors. If an agency tells you 2-3 years, I would ask why? If they don't get many birthparents, and they are expecting you to do alot of the legwork, then maybe they are not the right agency for you. Likewise, our agency charges a flat fee, and is more expensive, but they do all of the advertising and finding of birthparents and if an adoption fall through, we were not out any money.

By the way, what state are you in? We are in MA. If you are, I can pm you the info

Best of luck.

[widdleweeda]

Hi Susan,
I'm in WV, so there is not alot of local agencies to choose from. We will most likely use Childrens Home Society of WV or Burlington United Methodist Family Services for the home study and an out of state agency for the actual adoption. We just don't know which one! We are planning on joining a local adoption group to hopefully get some more info. I was wondering if we should sign up with more than one agency and if agencies allow that or not.

Thanks,
Lisa

[ssh]

I don't have alot of knowledge using out of state agencies... MA is a agency state, so it is required. We just used a local agency that we had heard good things about, and knew a couple who had used them. I imagine it would be difficult to choose if you were looking at the entire country - or even the east coast! I know alot of people have mentioned agencies in Florida being good and having a short wait time after bparents sign. That would probably be most important to me. We actually had a 10 day wait which is on the long side, but thankfully it all worked out!

I would say if you were going with a religious-based org, they may not do any advertising etc, so they just wait for birthmothers to find them. Hence the long wait. We had a similar situation with an agency here in MA, and they would only have 20 couples waiting b/c they don't get many bparents.

Best of luck.

If you post on the parenting after adoption board you may also get some good info. Best of luck.

[mommyatlast]

Widdleweeda - It's hard, I know, to keep this in mind...but please remember that quoted wait times really do depend on so much. As you go down this road, you'll make decisions about what you'd be willing to accept in a given situation and this COULD affect your wait time. Dh and I considered it a factor but looked at many other things when choosing an agency. Again, welcome and good luck!

[BC-lisa in venice]

The wait has so many variables from shear luck to the amount of and quality of the outreach and network your adoption pro has to how limited you are in what you can consider. It is true that there is more "competition" for healthy CC infants but often that can be mitigated by being open to gender, flexible or open to post placment contact, having a really good agency/Attorney who has hundreds of contacts and resources, doing good targeted advertising, and a williness to put yourself out there. So many people here will tell you that some of the best adoption situations come to you thru word of mouth but those only happen if people know you are looking. Some people are very private and virutally no one knows they are contemplating adoption so when a co-worker's neice is looking for a familyfor her baby that co-worker doesn't know to tell you.

If this agency offers a good prive on homestudies and it will be accepted by other agenies I would go ahead and let them do it but I wouldn't sign up with them or pay any large upront fees. A five year wait is pretty ridiculous, 12-18 months is pretty standard for most active agenices. Of course it can be more or less but alot more then than that and I would wonder what theyn are doing wrong. Some agencies don't allow you to list with others so make sure this isn't the case before you sign with ANYONE and good luck.

lisa