PolkMoms.com

I already mentioned that a mom asked for an adoption thread while I was out and about. Here it is. Moms with the same interests of finding love to add to their family can find each other.

Wow! This is exciting! Thank you Shawn! I am going to call up my adoptive mom friends and tell them all about this. I am sure that they all will just love to join in. Be back in touch soon.

Hi Ann, Thank you for spreading the word and I always try to aim to please . This space is for us to talk about what is important to us. What you need is what I want PolkMoms to give.

Shawn,

This is a great topic. Like I have posted on some other topics my husband and I have adopted two boys and are looking into adopting a little girl. Even though we have been through it before it will be great to hear from other adoptive moms and to learn. We are new to this area so I am not sure who to go through ( adoption attorney or agencies). So I am interested in what others have to say. Thanks

Hi everyone! Hope you all are having a great day.
I shared a little in my Intro. about how we adopted our daughter Savannah.(now 16mos) My husbands step-brother and his girlfriend are her biological parents. They both were unable to care for her and they knew how bad we desired to become parents. They wanted us to adopt their baby girl and we were so thrilled to accept. We send them pictures and updates. We used Attorney Mary Greenwood in Brandon to do all of the paper work. Even if you are so fortunate to find your own birth mom looking to place her baby you are still looking at around 5k to finalize everything. I am not an adoption expert so just understand I am sharing my personal experiences. We are also on an email list of Attorney Mark Miller in Jacksonville, Fl. Mark sends out "Potential Situations" as they come in. You then decide if you would like to apply for the Baby. The email will list as much personal info. about both birth parents as possible and if there were drugs used during pregnancy, etc. Cost is $100.00 to apply per situation. Money is not refunded if birth mom does not pick you. I also have searched various adoption agencies. My husband and I attended an information meeting about 3 years ago with "Bethany Christian" based in Maitland, Fl. They handle both domestic and international adoptions. We also attended a Info. meeting from "America World". We were considering getting a baby girl from China at the time. That was about four yrs. ago. That adoption was going to be around $17,500. Oh, and Bethany was $19,500. for domestic. I am sure these prices have changed so you all will want to check directly with the agency or attorney of your choosing! There is also plenty of children needing homes in our States Foster Care system. We did receive a packet from the FL. Baptist Children's Home this past fall but decided to wait until this spring to continue our adventure for another child/children. I really love being a mommy and hope God blesses us again! You can also spread the word through Friends, Family, Church, etc. that you are wishing to adopt and you could possible find your own birth mama. You could just be an answer to her prayers also! Hope all of this information is helpful to someone out there! Take care, Ann

Thank you so much for giving details about who and how much. This is so helpful to so many I'm sure. If anyone else has more information about other attorneys, laws, costs, or experiences, please include them here. Thank you again Ann and Amy.

We are also on the list with Mark Miller. We have been for about three years. We just moved here from Jacksonville. We helped some friends in Jacksonville adopt through him with one of the situations that was emailed to us. We have also checked into Bethany Christian and America World. Also the Chinese Children Adoption Intl. is around $17,000 - $18,000. We have friends that just adopted a little girl through them and said the experience was amazing. I also have talked to an adopted mom in Bartow who is adopting either their second or third daughter through them. She said she loves them, has not had any problems with them. Just the wait time is so long right now in China. She thinks after the Olympics it will go faster.

Just some other ideas!

Hi,

Does anyone have experience regarding adoption through the foster care program? My husband and I completed the required certification course two years and have a completed homestudy. We are very frustrated with the lack of communication between prospective adoptive parents and the state's adoption agencies. So many times I've called about children listed on the state's adoption website and leave messages for case workers to inquire about children and cannot get anyone to return our phone calls. Has anyone had any success adopting through the state? If so, what are we doing wrong?!!! We have lots of love in our hearts and room in our home for one or two children that we'd like to take out the foster care system and give a permanent home. Thanks for any information anyone can provide.

Hi To A Crafty Mom! I was wondering when someone was going to ask these questions. I have purposely said very little about the State Foster Care System because of mine and my husbands personal nightmare! I have mentioned it briefly in earlier replies throughout this forum and web site. I am really struggling with my thoughts in exactly what I should or should not say. I cannot fully unload at this time due to "Legal" reasons. If and when the time is right, hopefully our sad story will be told. Mine and my husbands desire to speak out is only because we are hoping our actions will help change procedures in a very broken system. I must say that it is NOT all completely bad. We met some precious children and some kind-hearted overworked staff. It has been over two years since we were licensed so I would direct you to "Heartland for Children". We do not have anything personal against them. Our trouble was with "DCF" and I will leave it at that! We know a lot of lucky people who did manage to adopt through foster care. Like I mentioned in an earlier posting, there is such a great, great need for other wonderful people to stand up with courage and become foster parents.
Good Luck, Ann

This is sad! I have a friend that has adopted a baby now through another route. Before that she was looking at children in the foster system. When she inquired about a few, no one would call her back! You would think that the system would want to place these children in loving forever homes. It is all to confusing to me.

We adopted our oldest son through the Foster Care system. However, we were licensed as Foster Parents through the Baptist Childrens Home and when our son had to be placed in another home the social worker with DCFS was going on vacation and called the Baptist Childrens Home to see if they had a home they could place him in. So I agree with Boxer421, the workers are overworked however they really don't care. Our story was a roller coaster and too long to type on here. I have called about a few children on the website and been told they are no longer available. I recently called the Heart Gallery of Tampa and they did call me back the same day, however the little girl I was interested in was already matched. The Department of Children and Families is horrible and you would think they would get back to prospective adoptive parents so these children could be placed sooner.

The Baptist Childrens Home is always looking for foster parents.

Shawn and American,
Thank you both for your kind words! Yes my husband and I endured a lot of pain and heartache with our situation but used it to make us stronger instead of totally destroying us like the Devil wanted. We are unable to adopt through the State because of all this but can adopt privately. We are still fighting to have this changed. We try to keep a positive attitude in-spite of what we have been through. We have a lot of friends & Family that have supported us along the way. Trials are hard on us all but they also make us stronger. Our Faith and Trust in the Lord has guided us through. Thanks again!
Ann

Hi Momof2boys, I also wanted to acknowledge what you said about your State experience and suggesting FBCH. If the outcome to my families situation is what we are hoping for, we will go through FBCH this time and become Foster Parents once again. Or we may just use their straight adopt program. Our home study ran out this past fall but we plan on updating in the next few months. FBCH does their own study but if we do not use them, we will update with our former source. I hope others will write in like Shawn said and share their experiences! I like to read the news on this site everyday!
Thanks!
Ann

I am glad to see everyone discussing adoption. I am a mother of two adopted children. My son will be three and my daughter will be one in April. My son's adoption is a semi-open adoption. We went through a private attorney. The only warning I have is to do your homework. Just because the attorney says they can do an adoption doesn't mean they really know what to do! Stay up on the laws. Luckily it all worked out for us. We had to delay our finalization to get more documentation/information to the judge. His birthmother gets pictures and letters. Know before you decide on the type of adoption what exactly you can handle! I began getting letters from her family to "our son" and "our cousin". Made me very uncomfortable. Our daughter's adoption is closed per her birthmother's request. We are happy with this situation. We got as much information as we could from our attorney. The attorney I highly recommend is Jim Joiner from Winter Haven. He has two grown adopted children of his own. He has been through the process and was very straight forward about the situation and cost of the adoption. We actually had to say no to the initial adoption situation due to cost - birthmother fees. Our daughter's adoption was nothing short of a miracle from God. The adoptive parents had to back out the day after she was born and there was no where for her to go. They called on Friday morning and we took her home Friday afternoon. It was a whirlwind! I wouldn't change it for anything. My biggest suggestion is do your homework before deciding on who will handle this life changing event for you!

mnacotton
Hello, I enjoyed reading your story. Just the thought of adopting another child gets me so excited! Our adopted daughter is 16 mos and we are already starting to look around again. Adoption can be a roller coaster as adoptive parents soon find out. You are right about your comments concerning attorneys. Our Attorney, Mary Greenwood in Brandon was completely updated on all the processes and therefore everything went smoothly! I will call Mr. Joiner's office and get a feel for their Customer Service and request Info. Wow! You were certainly blessed with your daughters situation. That is so wonderful! I will write more later. Got to get ready for work.
Ann