So, I am in the process of switching adoption agencies. If you’ve been following my journey, you know it’s been 3+ years since I first started this endeavor. It only took some months to go through the licensing process. I began April 2020 and was officially licensed January 2021. I was offered children the same day I became licensed, a sibling set of three. I turned down the offer because it was a foster care situation meaning it would only be a temporary placement while I wanted children who needed a permanent home.
That has been my stipulation since day one. I could easily foster kids because there is no shortage of kids who need temporary homes. However, the goal of foster care is reunification, which serves the opposite purpose of what I aspire to have- a permanent situation. If I fostered and the parental rights were terminated while the children were in my care, that would give me first dibs on adopting them (which happens all the time.) That’s just not a risk I’m willing to take, plus I don’t want to have these children in my home while secretly hoping their parents fail their case plan just so I can keep them. Those motives are wrong, so I choose to restrict myself to placements where parental rights are already terminated and the kids are looking for a forever home.
Quite honestly, that stipulation has greatly affected the amount of offers I get from my case workers. There are over 400,000 children in foster care at any given time in the U.S. Only ¼ of them are eligible for adoption. I specifically want children who are African-American with minimal health and behavioral issues. I’m flexible on the age and will take up to three, yet having those specified requirements takes time especially since I’ve limited myself to the state of Georgia for purposes of state benefits for the kids. Being particular isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just requires me to have a lot of patience which brings me to my next point.
I recently had a conversation with the founder of the adoption agency I’ve been with for 3 years. Although I have a wonderful relationship with this agency, he kindly suggested that I look into agencies with an “adoption contract”. There are only 5 in Georgia. I didn’t even know what an adoption contract was. Basically, it’s a contract the state has with certain adoption agencies that gives them access to children in DFCS that become available for adoption before they’re listed on the state website. Sometimes the children offered to these agencies don’t even make it to the state website because they are found a permanent home so early.
Long story short, my current agency does not have an adoption contract which limits how many eligible children they have access to that are free for adoption. Do I wish I would have known this sooner? Yes, but everything happens for a reason and in God’s timing, so I’m not sweating it. He recommended an agency in which I’m already familiar, and I followed up with a phone call.
Shortly thereafter, I had an orientation with this new agency and have began the process of switching over. It takes about 3 months for the switch to take place because it requires additional paperwork and another home study, which takes several weeks to schedule. In the meantime, I’m still with my original agency. I told the founder to still keep me in mind if any children come across his desk that are available for adoption until my file has been closed. He agreed, and to tell the truth, that’s what I’m secretly hoping happens. I really love the agency I’m currently with, the results are just slow. However, I know I will grow to love the new one as well.
So, that’s where I’m at right now. I’ll keep you updated. See you next post !
~Banessa