Domestic adoption without dfs

I dont know if this is true or not but I heard of the social worker takes more than so many months to do the intervew and all of this Then you can ask for a diffrent one. So I would contact the social services and see. thats all I can say since I dont know any of the other info .

We had been in contact and working with a licensed adoption agency before, because we were not for sure whether we were going domestic or international. I was in contact with them again yesterday and they told me since I have all my paper work alredy gathered, physicals, and backgrounds done that it would probably only take appox. 4 weeks to have my domestic home study finished. I was just curious if anyone ran into problems when using an agency home study instead of one through dfs. The caseworker at the agency also said she would be responsible for the supervision of the child if need be, because she wasn't for sure if dfs would then step in and take over. I was worried that you might run into a lot more problems going independantly to find a child instead of using dfs. thanks for everyones help Kathy

Wow, thanks JuliannaTeresa, you really gave me somethings to think about and to check into. A couple of quick questions though. When you did your domestic adoption did you go through dfs? Did you find your child in state or out of state? Thanks for all your help Kathy

If the agency contracts with DFS, it's not a problem to do your study with another agency. Normally, you do have to agree to take a child within your state for the first 6 months. Using an outside study is workable providing the agency will agree to supervise and be willing to deal directly with the out of state agencies. Most states want to deal directly with a SW and will not even talk to a parent until they've spoken with their worker. interstate compact in MO is not that big of a deal. Our lawyer handled ours for a private adoption. It takes about 10 days unless the other state is a pain. You should still be entitled to subsidy for the child, but negotiating things like legal fees is probably more difficult.

LucyJoy your great, you are always there when I am asking a million questions. So am I understanding you right when I think your saying that fs I go independantly there is a possiblilty that I would have to wait 6 monthes from when my homestudy is finished before I can look at sources outside Missouri? While I am at it I have another question fo you. Have you heard anything good or bad about an adoption agency in Kansas City called Adoption and Beyond? Have you heard anything good or bad about any other adoption agencies in Missouri? :) Kathy

:D JuliannaTeresa, Thanks so much for sharing your story! It really helps me to here of others experiences and how they felt about them. You actually brought up a couple of things that have been on my mind. Red Tape--I was always afraid if by going through dfs that there would be a lot more red tape to deal with. I know that they are only trying to do what is best for the children. I was kind of thinking by using an agency you would have your own private social worker advocating on your behalf, so it would be you and the worker instead of just you against the system. Is this line of thinking wrong? Feeling more relaxed and comfortable--I thought I would probably actually feel more comfortable with an agency because they are in the business to help be adopt, where for dfs this is only one of there jobs and for some reason I feel like they might treat you with suspicion(sp?) instead of open arms. Maybe the system just scares me and the fact that I am having a difficult time getting a hold of and getting anything done with my local dfs. thanks Kathy

" fs I go independantly there is a possiblilty that I would have to wait 6 monthes from when my homestudy is finished before I can look at sources outside Missouri?" Not if the agency is completely independant. If they contract with DFS, they'll likely have you sign a six month contract to look with in that area. The only problem with the completely independant agencies is they don't have access to state children's files so you'll have to find the children yourself and get them to agree to do all the followup. MO court requires a temp custody hearing when a child is placed with you. Interstate compact on an out of state child is required first. The the court wants at least six months supervision before finalization and they can require weekly or monthly visits. That could be expensive with a private SW. Sometimes, they'll want not only your worker, but the child's state worker to do supervision(no cost for that one). I used an agency that contracted with DFS for my first few adoptions and it did help to have a worker working for me. I did, however have to take MAPP(replaced with spaudling, I think)but not STARS. I was able to take it with another agency as the local classes were booked up. I have never heard of the agency you mentioned. Are you far from Kansas City? Travel time for home visits gets charged to you with a private agency. Cathlic Charities use to contract with MO and they held classes also which speeds things up.

Hi, Kathy, I ran into this exact same situation in 1991. I used a private agency homestudy in OK to adopt a child in state foster care in MD that I found myself in a photolisting book. MD was even willing to pay "Purchase of Services", a kind of finder's fee, to my agency so that our expenses were greatly reduced. In 1992, when we returned to MD to adopt again from the same county, the state had temporarily stopped paying Purchase of Services due to a budget crunch. So we updated our state homestudy and they stepped in to complete the adoption. States don't always like to do this (they would rather you adopt in-state) and some will even say they don't do this, but once the match is made, it is considered a professional courtesy for the state to help you complete this- from one state adoption agency to another. If you are wondering if state adoption law disallows this this kind of cooperation, you can get a copy of any state's adoption code (laws) by visiting the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse on the web, a federal information agency. Regards, Rita Laws

It might be helpful for everyone to know that faith-based adoption agency chains like those run by the Catholics, Baptists, Methodists, Mormons, Jewish faiths, and others, are really independent within their organizations to some degree. For example, in each city where there is an agency, that agency may specialize in placing a certain type of child primarily, such as teens or sibling groups. And whether there is a specialty or not, an agency in one city may be backlogged while one in another city in the same organization is not. So speak with each agency individually before making a decision. And remember that you don't always have to belong to that faith in order to use the agency. Some of them have religion requirements, but others are flexible in this regard. Best wishes, Rita Laws

hi julianna, i saw that too. she said they were backed up and another poster said something about a 2-4 year wait period. that is FOREVER when talking about adoptions - for me anyway. donna

I work for Lutheran Social Services on the West Coast in California. In California, we are experiencing a extremely tough, first time and unusual budget crisis that LSS/we as a state are having to deal with, but in my opinion I love what I do and where I work, and how I make a difference! I have heard nothing but negatives about Lutheran in the Illinois and Mid West region regarding Adoption!

"hi julianna, i saw that too. she said they were backed up and another poster said something about a 2-4 year wait period. that is FOREVER when talking about adoptions - for me anyway. donna" Was that their infant adoption program or their special needs program?

lucyjoy, unsure - sorry for only getting half the info. i'm thinking newborn?:confused: donna

I just found one of the posts and it was catholic charities in another state and it was the infant program. In MO, the infant program is entirely seperate then the special needs program and usually has a faster response then DFS. I haven't checked in a while, so I'm just assuming they still contract with DFS.

Thanks everyone for all your input, been away for a few days so I am just catching up. RitaLaws thanks for for story, it was exactly what i was looking for. I wanted to know of someone else that had done what we were thinking about. one quick question though, did you take any special classes in OK with you homestudy and then did MD require you to take any special classes? I know every state is different, I was just curios about yours and MD. I have personally contacted Catholic Charities and LuthernServices in Missouri this last week. This is what learned form both(practically the same thing). The state of Missouri's fiscal year ends June 30. And as of yet the contract providers for adoption have not been awarded any new money and with the new budget crisis they might be waiting awhile they said. Also, even though they both have offices where I live their adoption services are ran out of Kansas City and St Louis, so I would have to travel 3 hours away to attend classes and such even when they started back up again. :( Kathy