Home Study BEGUN!

So, I bit the bullet and started the process for a private home study. Part of me feels like I am giving up on a dream (adopting again from foster care), but I came to the conclusion, after much thought, that it does not really matter how my next child comes to me (through fost/adopt vs. private adoption). God sent me Moo from a very small hospital in Newark, NJ, through the mass of red tape that is DYFS, to my little apartment in Morris county. God will send my next child to us, too. He already has our little one all picked out. God's timing is perfect (as I keep having to remind myself, ad nauseum!). It is a bit costly to get a private home study done...but, its time to move forward with getting us a new little one! And, I am not closing my home to fostering, so who knows what may happen!

I have decided on an agency to complete the home study and received the forms. I filled out preliminary paperwork and asked people to be references for me (the references have to be notarized- that was surprising to me!). My physician has signed off on me being an adoptive parent again (this was not a given, by the way. The 1st time I went in with the paperwork, my blood pressure was checked because I have hypertension- which I am medicated for- and it was very high. I went back the following Monday and it was fine and the doc happily signed the paperwork. Phew!). I have been in contact again with the agency and just need to send the application fee in and I will be assigned a caseworker to complete the home study. This may be the beginning of the process that ends with a new little one for my family! Wow!

The agency I picked has a network program, where you pay a fee for 15 "matches". These matches are from other agencies or adoption lawyers and the adoption fee would vary according to who is placing the child (between $6500 and $20,000- I will write more about the fee issue later). The children placed through this program are older children or special needs infants (my preference for adoption). I will also put my home study in at a special needs infant adoption program. This programs does not charge a fee to accept your home study.  I have had my eye on this program for years, but have not applied to it because DYFS has my home study and they won't release it. You are not guaranteed a placement with this program, but as the saying goes, "you gotta be in it to win it!". Also, I just found out I can give my privately done adoption profile to Adoption Operations in Trenton (the state adoption unit). This is great news for me- maybe I don't have to give up on my dream of adopting a foster child. This would also make me eligible to be placed with a Safe Haven infant.

Most of the time, when you go with a private adoption agency, you are required to be exclusive with this agency. The route I am going, though, allows me to pursue several different option simultaneously. Oh, I wonder how this is all going to end!