Adoption

[AnnaBanana]

Has anyone here adopted a child? We are thinking about it, but we are at the very beginning of the process. It's not that we 'have' to, we have kids of our own, but we just are thinking that if there is a need, we'd like to help. i guess we are wondering if there actually "is" a need, as it seems like people who want to adopt have to wait forever to get a kid..

Any insight?

[S U]

We had considered adopting and actually went through the homestudy.
We had a bad experience with one agency that actually made us go another route in having our family.
Regarding 'the need', it is there, however, usually not for 'healthy' newborns. Keep in mind that healthy means the possibility of some kind of substance abuse - it's not always known if there was any. Most birth moms are quite honest about whether or not they drank or did drugs. However, there is always a chance that they may have had an evening when they thought it would be OK just this once......
The 'healthy' newborns are the ones that many of these people that are waiting for a long time are going to.
The need, as you mentioned, is with other children. These are older children, possibly with some issues that need to be sorted out or helped with. Many times these children are diagnosed with ADHD or ADD, they many have FAS or numerous other issues.
If you are OK with this, then your best bet is to contact your local CAS. They desperately need families that they can place their children with.
They also have a weekend where they offer a lot of advice to those considering adoption. On the Saturday there are a lot of excellent workshops and on the Sunday the children that they are trying to place with families are presented (through photos and video). We've attended these weekends a few times and let me tell you, the Sunday portion is heartbreaking. You feel like you want to take all these children under your wing.
I hope that gives you a little info about adopting.
It really is a big decision and you need to keep in mind many things.....but I think your biggest consideration might be your biological children fitting in with an adopted child and an adopted child fitting in with your biological children.

[S U]

AnnaBanana

I was wondering how your decision is coming along......I'm sure that it's not an easy one to come by.

I checked into the information sessions I mentioned.
The Adoption Resource Exchange is actually happening soon on Oct 25.
I'll include the link for you.
I don't see the seminars for the Saturday listed - you may want to contact them about that.

http://adoption.on.ca/Page.asp?IdPage=8887

[pimom]

I have three neices and nephews adopted internationally. The oldest was just over two, and the youngest was not yet one year old when adopted. They are all healthy children and the adoptions have been a success, although the adoption process itself was either very smooth or totally brutal depending on the country. The parents turned to adopting after deciding they weren't interested in playing the odds with IVF. They went internationally for the finality of the process, but knowing that they would have almost no health info about the kids.

[AnnaBanana]

Thanks S U... i think what you said makes the most sense, to check out an info session and see how we feel about it. we're just in the 'talking' stages now, but we think it's something that we are passionate about. We have the room, we have the finances, and we have the love (aww...). Not sure how we would feel about an older kid, but who knows til we find out more...!