Intro!

[Deleted]

Hi! I hope it's okay for me to post over here. We're not trying to get pregnant, but do plan to start the process of getting "paper pregnant" to adopt in January. We have a 2 year old who we adopted through an agency as a newborn. We have decided to adopt through foster care this time and plan to adopt a young sibling group of 2-3 kids.

I'd love it to have a place to vent or just to share with others while on this journey. I'm extremely excited but also nervous about the challenges that come with foster to adopt (bonding, potential behavior or emotional problems, etc) and also going from one child to three or four.

If you don't mind me posting here, I look forward to getting to know everyone over here!

[thoseareradishes]

Welcome! Will you get the kids in Jan, or start the paperwork then?

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 20:45:00 GMT -5 thoseareradishes said:

Welcome! Will you get the kids in Jan, or start the paperwork then?

We will start our homestudy and foster parent training then, so I have a feeling that we won't be ready for a placement until the spring. I also have no idea how long it might take to get a placement once we are approved since we want young kids (under 4 years for the oldest). We also want healthy kids, although minor correctable issues would be fine (like cleft palate), but we are completely open as to race.

ETA: We are waiting until January to start the paperwork because my husband is a sports writer and pretty much works nonstop during football season.

[sunflower22]

Hi, welcome!! So you would get an entire group at once?! Wow!! How wonderful that there are people like you who take in siblings. That's awesome. Ive briefly researched adoption online and came away a little discouraged, it seems like the waiting lists are so long. I looked mostly at China though, I know not all countries are the same.

[tarheels]

Hey there! Cool to see you over here. Don't mind all the charting, etc talk.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 20:50:33 GMT -5 sunflower22 said:

Hi, welcome!! So you would get an entire group at once?! Wow!! How wonderful that there are people like you who take in siblings. That's awesome. Ive briefly researched adoption online and came away a little discouraged, it seems like the waiting lists are so long. I looked mostly at China though, I know not all countries are the same.

Yes, 2-3 kids will be placed in our house at once. We are likely insane, but I'm looking forward to the craziness.

Waits just depend so much on the route you take and what you are open to. When we first decided to adopt, we researched our options for a few months, and then signed up with an adoption consultant. Once we signed up, everything happened FAST. Our son was born and placed with us just 8 weeks after signing with our consultant. Thankfully we bought the essentials like a crib and carseat very early because we had to fly across the country the day after we were told we matched! Adoption can be quite the roller coaster.

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 20:54:21 GMT -5 tarheels said:

Hey there! Cool to see you over here. Don't mind all the charting, etc talk.

Yeah, I probably won't spend too much time reading posts about cervical mucus and such Although, I'd participate if I knew anythign about it, but we never seriously TTCd before.

[berbles]

Of course you're welcome here! I have so much respect and admiration for adoptive parents. Taking on 2-3 kids all at once!? You're amazing!

[Deleted]

Oct 3, 2012 21:05:00 GMT -5 berbles said:

Of course you're welcome here! I have so much respect and admiration for adoptive parents. Taking on 2-3 kids all at once!? You're amazing!

Well, you may be seeing "what the hell have we done?" posts once they are all in our house, lol.

[winecheery]

I'd love to have you around, and hear your stories. I think it sounds like an amazing thing you're doing! Honestly, I've thought more about adoption than IVF or similar if we ever came to that. I personally wish to conceive my own kids (obvs) but if we couldn't for some reason, I'd love to adopt, I think

[Cheesecake]

Where are you located? I've volunteered and even had a summer job with an organization that tries to finf forever families for children in foster care. Needless to say, I think it's awesome what you're doing!

Sent from my phone, please disregard typos

[HoneySpider]

Hi & welcome! I'm actually really interested in hearing about your journey because it's a process I know nothing about. Good luck!

[potatopie]

Hi! Super excited to hear your stories because my H and I would really like to adopt. We're TTC right now with plans to adopt our second child, but we'll see how TTC goes.

I can't believe your process only took 8 weeks. We're looking into adoption here in South Africa both because there are so many children in need and also because we thought it would be a much quicker process. Nice to hear that it can be a painless process in the US!

I might be picking your brain in the future!

[Deleted]

Oct 4, 2012 2:30:09 GMT -5 Cheesecake said:

Where are you located? I've volunteered and even had a summer job with an organization that tries to finf forever families for children in foster care. Needless to say, I think it's awesome what you're doing!

Sent from my phone, please disregard typos

I'm in Atlanta.

[Deleted]

Oct 4, 2012 10:22:01 GMT -5 potatopie said:

Hi! Super excited to hear your stories because my H and I would really like to adopt. We're TTC right now with plans to adopt our second child, but we'll see how TTC goes.

I can't believe your process only took 8 weeks. We're looking into adoption here in South Africa both because there are so many children in need and also because we thought it would be a much quicker process. Nice to hear that it can be a painless process in the US!

I might be picking your brain in the future!

That's so awesome! I am always happy to answer adoption questions!

[Deleted]

Thanks, everyone for the warm welcome! I won't have much to post until January but will be lurking and probably occasionally posting before then.

Right now we are working on getting our small house ready for 2-3 more kids. We are renovating a gross room in the basement into a playroom and I need to move my home office out of the spare bedroom and make it a kids room. What is tough is not knowing exactly what ages we need to be ready for, so I think I'm going to put 2 twin beds in there and have 2 pack and plays for babies (we would buy regular cribs if we get a long term placement of infant(s), but these will do for short term). We are also saving up to buy a minivan, which neither of us are thrilled about, but it just seems to make the most sense if we plan for 3-4 kids. We won't buy one until we get a placement though, as we have no idea how long it might take until kids are placed in our home.