did you spread the word?
I am really new to all of this and unfortunately we can't jump in full force due to money but I just had a few questions about how you got started. I read somewhere that you should tell all of your friends and family about your intentions to adopt in the hopes that someone would know someone who would know someone who would know someone. Did you guys do this?
What brought it up to me was the fact that I work in a school as a counselor and come across several situations where one of my students or their friends (or in the case today, their parent) does not want to keep their baby. Of course for me I can't just jump in and say "give it to me!!" but I have had people suggest myself and my husband as possible adoptive parents to someone who has broached the subject. None of these have panned out as I'm sure most of the time they don't, but what if just that once it did? We have been pretty open with our friends and families about our struggles with infertility and our desire to have children so we are comfortable with the idea of sharing that we would like to adopt. But, if you did this- how did you go about it.
I had someone call me yesterday to tell me they had a student ask if they knew anyone who wanted to adopt and they gave them my name. My hopes are not up at all, ok maybe a tiny smidge, but it just got me thinking about the possibility. Thanks for all the info and thanks for letting me be a part of this board!
Re: did you spread the word?
I think it's a good idea to spread the word that you are hoping to adopt, because you never know what might come out of that. We are working with an agency, and they said that 10% of their placements come through clients' own networking efforts.
Our home study was approved around Christmas, so we put a letter inside our Christmas cards announcing our plans to adopt and telling people to keep us in mind if they come across any situations where someone is making an adoption plan.
I did the same thing. I sent emails to family and friends and asked them to pass the word along once our homestudy was approved. It is amazing how far you can get just by word of mouth. We have been approved since August. We have been approached with three private situations, but none worked out. Our 4th ended up being almost the one, but the birth father decided to parent after we'd had the baby in our care for almost three weeks and it was a very special circumstance.
Now, we are currently matched through word of mouth. We are attending all doctor's appts with her and we are just waiting and praying that everything will go smoothly. I definitely think it's worth spreading the news that you are waiting to adopt! Good luck!