Adoption Agency

A while back, when talking with my sister about our issues with CA State Adoptions and Humboldt County foster care system, she recommended that I read a book by Dan Savage about his adoption experience, The Kid. I read a bit of it on-line, but never got the book...it's now on the short list.

When I told Suzanne about this baby and our situation/opportunity, being the lawyer she is, she pretty much went straight to the legal stuff....after congratulating us, of course.  She wanted to know if April and Chris were going to sign over custody, would there be issues with us living in Oregon and them being in California, and where is the baby going to be born?  I told her that yes, it is their plan to have us adopt the baby, and I had no idea if there would be an issue with us being in different States and the baby will be born in Humboldt (like me...Frumboldt).  Then Suzanne sent me the  link for Open Adoption and Family Services in Portland, the same adoption agency Dan Savage used.

I went to their web site and immediately liked what I read.  They have a bunch of videos to watch, everything from their administrators, to birth parents, adoptive parents, and the kids themselves.  I watched them, tears running down my cheeks all the while...such beautiful stories, so much love and great strength and courage. Yes, this is the agency I want to use.  It gave me so much hope and faith that the four, well five, of us could totally do this. 

I gave Open Adoption and Family Services a call and was able to talk with someone right away.  Lori walked me through the process, we have what is called an identified adoption and she explained to me how that works.  She emailed us an info sheet with more details.  One of the big surprises, and truthfully disappointments, was finding out that Jillian and I would still have to go through the State and have a home study before we can adopt...and pay $6500 for the privilege.  But it's going to be worth it, every last penny.