Tag Archives: waiting children

What Kinds of Special Needs Do Kids Awaiting Adoption Have?

What comes to mind when you think of “special needs”? In the adoption world, a child with “special needs” is one with any condition or situation which makes them harder to place in a family. They could be a large sibling group, older, or simply boys. But most often, a “special need” refers to a medical or developmental condition. It might be an actual disability, it might be a condition that needs surgery but is correctable, such as cleft palate, it might be a risk factor such as extreme prematurity, prenatal drug or alcohol exposure, or it might be a … Continue reading →

I Vowed I’d Never Look at Those Photos Again…

I vowed I’d never look at those photos again. They interfere with my life. I can’t get them off my mind and I can’t get anything done. Another packet of them arrived in the mail yesterday. I left them in the car overnight so I wouldn’t look at them. But today I couldn’t resist. I’m referring to the “waiting child” photolistings, online or on paper. “Waiting children” basically means children for whom there is no waiting family. They may be from the U.S. foster care system and hard to place because of age or number of siblings. International agencies use … Continue reading →

November is National Adoption Awareness Month.

Every year in the United States, the month of November is set aside to promote awareness about the adoption of children from the foster care system. National Adoption Month, has been celebrated for over 20-years and started in May 1976, when Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis issued the first state Adoption Week proclamation. Later in the same year 1976 President Gerald Ford officially proclaimed National Adoption week by way of a letter to the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) conference. During the following years, Adoption Week was observed during the week of Thanksgiving in November. In 1986, NACAC coordinated … Continue reading →

Should You Adopt a Child From A Photolisting?

Since I have become immersed in adoption, one thing that has always drawn me is the photolistings. The faces of those children staring back at me makes me want to fill my home with adopted children. Many of the agencies that use photolistings are very ethical. They use them as a way of spreading the word about children who need homes. However, there are also some agencies that use photolistings as a way to bring in clients because they have trouble finding them in any other way. They count on potential adoptive parents falling in love with a cute face … Continue reading →

The Kids through State Adoptions

Contrary to the stories, concerns and fears you might have read about online, most of the kids adopted through the state that I personally know about are genuinely well adjusted and happy. Many potential adoptive parents become scared off after reading an adoption forum site or watching television. Before becoming resistant to state adoption, there are a few things I’d like you to know: 1. Adoption forum sites typically have posts by parents seeking support and information rather than raving about their wonderful and beautiful children. In other words, people with happy and normal lives don’t always sit and talk … Continue reading →

No Infant Adoption for Us

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When my husband and I decided to adopt neither of us desired a newborn baby. I don’t have a specific reason as to why. Perhaps it just wasn’t a part of the Master’s plan in our lives. I’ve spent the past five years in adoption support groups surrounded by families that surprisingly felt the same way as we did. Many were just not interested in the baby ages at all. Some didn’t want to deal with diapers, and all the other things that come with taking care of babies. There are many families that want to adopt older children because … Continue reading →

Straight Adoption

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This is a continuation from my Foster to Adopt blog. Probably one of the more secure ways to adopt is by going the straight adoption route. This is also referred to as legally free or legal risk adoption. Legally free adoptions happen when the child’s birth parent’s rights have been terminated by the courts, a process called TPR. These cases tend to move much more quickly as a result. Parents who adopt this route usually end up with children over age one. The reason for this is that the state usually takes about a year to work with the parents … Continue reading →

Foster to Adopt

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I am writing a two part blog. This first one will be on fostering to adopt and the other one will shed some light on straight adoption. States deal with the issue of fostering to adopt differently. There are some states that strongly advise you to foster before adopting, others that are indifferent, and then there are ones like our state of Oregon that strongly discourage it. The kind of fostering to adopt I’m talking about is taking in a foster child who’s case is still new in hopes that it will be moved toward adoption. All children that have … Continue reading →

Adoption: Melissa’s Story

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Unlike many couples who seek adoption, my husband and I didn’t pursue for fertility reasons—at least not initially. We were in our early 20’s and had heard there were many kids in our own state waiting for a forever family. We had love to share and an extra bedroom available. We started the adoption process by attending an orientation at our county’s Department of Human Resources (DHS). Upon hearing about the various special needs of the children waiting in the system, we thought it would be better to wait to adopt. We decided to focus on trying to conceive. After … Continue reading →

How We Started the Adoption Process in Our State

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My husband and I reside in the state of Oregon. When we decided we were going to adopt, we didn’t know where to start. Though states vary in how their steps are outlined, my hope is that our experience will give you some idea of how the state adoption process can work. 1. We went to the Government pages in our phone book and looked for our county’s Department of Human Services (DHS). In other states it may be department of social or human services or recourses. Each state has a different name for their program. Sometimes just calling the … Continue reading →