About how long for domestic adoptions?

rose76

My friend's aunt is a big adoption lawyer and we are going to meet with her in a few months....Once you start the process, how long does it take? I think it is about a year....

Also, any info on domestic adoptions would be helpful too.
Thanks
Rose

MayDayGirl

It all depends on when you're chosen.  We had our homestudy and paperwork completed within 2 months... after that it's just a waiting game.

Could be three days or three years.

Good luck!

Ranita

That's right.  It really is all a waiting game once your papers are done.  We were totally sold out on IA already but talking to our agency confirmed our plan because they said that we could be chosen basically instantly, or never, or anything in between.  It's great that you're meeting with a lawyer to talk about everything though, because while there is no one who can truly predict the wait time for your profile to be chosen, your lawyer will be able to advise you on how to get everything else done asap so that at least there's no delay on the things that you do have control over.

Married3.22.03

The other ladies are right... it is totally different for everyone, and unfortunately there's just no way to predict how long (or short) your wait will be!  Believe me, I tried!    I've had friends who waited less than 24 hours, and I've had friends who've been waiting 2, 3 years, and counting.

FOR US, the *entire* process from beginning to end was about 15 months.  That was from initial contact with the agency to placement day.  Our homestudy took maybe 2-3 months, then another 1-2 months while waiting to get our approval letter (got lost in the mail, mix-up in paperwork at the agency, etc.), then 6 mo. waiting until we got the call, then another 3 mo. until our daughter was born.

Amy720

From the first time we went to the introductory meeting with the faciliatator till we were matched the first time was 4 months.  This didn't work out and we took a year off.  We updated our home study and in 2 weeks we were holding our baby in our arms.

It depends on you really at the beginning--how long it will take you to complete the home study.  The 2nd part is a waiting game that can take a few weeks, months, or years.

TTCgradstud

The earl stages are also how quickly you get all the paperwork done.  We just had our first homestudy visit  last weekend and started all of our paperwork at the end of July.  Our agency keeps telling us how quickly we are moving.  But after our homestudy we have no control over the timeline and the social worker told me it could be days it could be more then a year, nobody knows. 

karalee402

The homestudy can be finished as quickly as you can get the paperwork in and get your meetings finished.  After that, it depends on the agency you're with (how many families on a waiting list, how many birth moms they work with) and then on being chosen.  Our adoption took less than six months start to finish but that's because the consultants we use (and whom I now work for:) send their couples to multiple agencies with NO waiting lists, so you don't sit and wait - you're shown right away.  Their average wait time now is 4-5 months, which is incredible!  It all just depends on which route you decide to take.

Congrats on starting the process!