Overwhelmed

[Bean]

Where do we even start?

[Cosmosmom]

Cass really??????? I thought your DH wasn't on board for more?

[haydensmom]

WHAT?!?!? I have no advice but wow! Exciting stuff!

[DucksLikeRain]

I started with the application. We're on hold right now but our application is ready and with the click of the send button we would/will be on our way...if we can both get on board at the same time. We keep waffling. I think for us knowing automatically which adoption service we would use (LDS Family Services) probably cut out a lot of the initial legwork. Although now we're back to the "adoption services or should we start off fostering?" debate between ourselves

I am so excited for you guys!!!

[bowlerchick]

Research is always good, contact some agencies and ask a ton of questions. Good luck with whatever you choose . I also went through LDS Family Services for our two girls so knowing the agency ahead of time made it so much smoother.

[Bridget]

Is this new news? This is so cool! But I don't know where you start.

[Cosmosmom]

Start getting the magazine adoptive families....it's GREAT and has had useful advice every single issue.

What I did to start was see what agencies were by me locally. I really want someone local. I looked at websites and than went to some informational meetings. Went from international with one agency to domestic with another. I looked into foster care a bit but didn't get a response to my email so dropped it. However if I lived back where all my family is, I might have went that route and talked to the social worker my aunt went with for my cousins.
I have found it easiest to work with an agency and have them guiding us along the way.

Once you settle on a route....open domestic, international, special needs, foster care, foster to adopt, embryo adoption.....you start to get a clearer picture of where to go next.

I will say that I have heard that it often takes longer in a domestic adoption to get picked by a birth family if you already have several children (especially biological). Of course like anything it depends....some women really want to place their baby in a home with siblings and others want their baby to be the first and maybe only.

In your case I would also look at information about birth order. I think that some believe that you shouldn't mess with that....like don't bring home a child that is older than your oldest.

I also believe that I have heard something about there being an adoption assistance to military people so definitely look into seeing if that is true.

[Bean]

DH doesn't want any more biological kids but adoption had always been an option. We've been throwing around the idea for a long time, but recently a little boy in Uganda came to our attention and got us really thinking about it seriously. Unfortunately he needs help now and since we haven't started the process, it's too late for us- for him, at least. But this really got a fire lit under me and it got DH to start thinking about #4 a little more seriously and I want to move forward so that IF something like this boy comes up again, we'll be ready. I don't know if either of us is up for the lengthy process of adopting domestically and we have quite a few friends who have adopted from Africa, so I've mainly been looking at that, however domestic isn't totally out of the picture, we're just worried about the long waits, legal bs, etc.... I think the first thing we need to do is settle on what we want to do, I guess. I feel like I've already been waiting so long for another child that I'm just overwhelmed by the possibility of having to wait another year or more. I'll just have to think of the process as a sort of pregnancy- you're on the road to another child, but you have to wait to actually meet them and hold them.

[Cosmosmom]

Well that sounds like you are going in a definite direction and gives you a starting off place. This is a really good agency for international http://www.holtinternational.org/

What you would want to do is find out the most info you can and get the paperwork started. There will be a TON no matter what kind of adoption. It can be a long process or not...so much depends on how fast you move to get paperwork together and what the country you are adopting from does....some have a long wait but some are fairly short.
The time does by pretty fast when you are getting the paperwork done. There is so much that it gives you something to focus on.

[TripMomma]

Wow Cass...that is wonderful! Good luck

[Luna]

The state we're in. . . there are a LOT of needy kids. . . infants and young toddlers. . . who go through foster/adopt. I have a friend who has requested infants only and has had 3 babies for 2 years now. . . and is the process of adopting one of them . . .