Wonderful news!

amberfernandez

I had written earlier that we had been turned down multiple times by agencies/facilitators due to our "lack of religion" even though these agencies and faciliatators did not purport themselves as having a religious affiliation,....

We have been officially accepted to a small faciliator here in Northern California that only works with 10-15 adoptive families at a time, and average about 8 adoptions a year.  They say because they work with just a few families at a time, their wait time is generally 6-8 months on average.

The even better news, is that we are their 9th family, but we are the ONLY family they currently have that is open to bi-racial and non-caucasian babies.  In fact, they have had to turn away many birthmothers lately because all their families wanted only full caucasian babies.  According to the agency, if they have a BM with a bi-racial child, ours is the only profile they will see.

I think this is awesome news and I am keeping my fingers crossed for a short wait.  In addition, because this agency is small, they don't do the homestudy until after the child is placed in your home, which means we will start being shown to BM's as soon as our profile is done in about a week.

I was really starting to get discouraged based on the problems with not having a religion, but everything has turned around, and the dream is actually a reality now!

hersheykiss

That is awesome! May I ask what agency it is? I am in the Sacramento area and with my free time right now I am looking to work with an agency in the area to help counsel BMs and work on panels.

pepomntpat

Congrats and good luck!

amberfernandez

I will PM you the info.

Anasara

Best of luck!

ColoRxGirl

Wow - that sounds good.

I'm curious about the home study not being done until after the placement - is that really legal in CA?  I can't think of another state where that is legal. . .

Sally J

ColoRxGirl:

Wow - that sounds good.

I'm curious about the home study not being done until after the placement - is that really legal in CA?  I can't think of another state where that is legal. . .

I agree.  I think you should definitely check into this.  We had to do a mini-homestudy (minor paperwork, fingerprinting, small home visit) in order to have our DD placed with us and we were a kinship placement.  We're in CA also.

LadyRed7

that is great! Here's hoping you have a short wait.

kgs0505

Yes, it is legal.  Homestudies in CA (for adoptions that start and end in CA) do not need to be done until the child is in your home 9must be done w/in 1 yr of placement and before finalization I think).  Weird, but it's true. 

I would get it over with myself, or do it concurrently.  It should just make everything smoother.  the facilitator probably doesn't do them anyway, you'll have to contract it out to another agency.

MayDayGirl

that is awesome!!!

amberfernandez

The facilitator does not do the home study, the State of CA department of child services does the home study, and they won't start it until the child is placed, which includes four supervised vists by a social worker.

The adoption becomes final approximately 9-months after placement, due to the homestudy taking place after the fact.

katerena

Amazing news!!!  Congrats!