Please help...we're lost! wanting to adopt from the state system

Hello, my husband is active duty military. We have done two infant adoptions and are now pursuing an older child. I know that Bethany Christian Services will work with families in Alaska and they have a great special needs program. As far as working with JAG, to my understanding they can prepare the paperwork for a legally free child, but can not help if parental rights are in question. We were matched with two kids within a week of contacting the agency we are working with. We are anxious to get them home, but know that it is a long process. If I can help let me know!!! Good luck

Jeskarose, Since you are interested in adopting from the USA foster care system, the place to start is with the state department in your area that is in charge of foster care and adoptions. Get your telephone book and start looking -- either in the goverment pages for a name similar to "department of family services" or in the yellow pages under "foster care" or under "adoption" and then look for an ad for an agency that advertises adoption from foster care. Once you've found a couple groups that assist with adoptions from foster care (or only one group, if this is only done directly from the state in Alaska), get thier packets of information mailed to you. Look through them and decide which sound like they'd be the best for what you're interested in. (Some will only do infants, some only older kids, some only sib groups, some only intensive therapeutic needs, etc.) Attend their orientation meetings or Q&As, whatever they offer. ***You're looking first for an agency to do your homestudy. For this you want one that has a contract with the state and will do your homestudy for FREE. (the state pays the homestudy fee because you're helping them by adopting from foster care.) ***You're also looking for an agency to provide the mandatory training that is required for those who adopt from foster care. This should either be free or almost free (200-300 dollars max). ***You're also looking for an agency that will work on your behalf, sorting through the bios of children who need homes, looking for those that you would be able to parent best. This worker would then submit your homestudy to be considered for that child's placement. This will also be the agency that conducts the post-placement follow-up visits. This service should be free. Ideally, you'll find all that in one agency! Some people split it and get their homestudy from one, then take it to another that will do the searching, while they attend the training held by someone else... but that gets annoying when one group says you need something that the other group says you don't. Go with a comprehensive agency if you can find one. (It's normal to have an application fee if there is no training fee.) Now, of course you want an agency that will assist in locating a child who lives out of state, if it comes to that. But the interstate compact (ICPC) is a pain that you want to avoid if you can't. Don't discount Alaskan children right away. In fact, in order to get your homestudy free, you may be required to only consider Alaskan children for a period of time (6 months is typical) If you find a good agency (or agencies), you probably won't need to bother with the JAG office, because your adoption will be either free or almost free to you, so the bother associated with having to teach the JAG office what you need from them becomes too much of a bother to do. Your lawyer, if one is needed, will most likely come from your agency. We live in CO (prior military but not now), and are in the process of adopting from foster care. Our application fee to our agency is $200, training is free, and the total court costs are going to be $125. Good luck! If you haven't already, go over to the Adoption and Foster Care forum and read a lot of the archived posts. If you post this question over there you'll get more response, too.

but I recommend Contacting the ARC of Anchorage and asking to speak with Tammy Ketchum-Wallette. If she is unavailable, ask for Laura Bruns. The ARC is foundation that certifies foster parents and places children that qualify for their services (special needs, but often mild!). I worked for 3 years with the ARC and they only certify the most honorable, well-intentioned families and work very very closely with their foster parents and children to get the help they need. The phone number is in the Anchorage phone book. If you're not in the Anchorage area, I would still recommend speaking with Tammy, as she will probably know of someone in your area who can help you. I wish you the best of luck! HOPE Cottages is another place in Anchorage you can contact. The need for Foster Parents/qualified adoptees is tremendous in Alaska, and they are generally more than willing to work with Military Families! BTW...we just moved here to SC from Elmendorf last year!

Here is the web site for the Northwest Adoption Exchange; [url]http://www.nwae.org/[/url] They could send you an information packet. It would list the agencies that do homestudies in your area. It is also a website that posts waiting children. Good luck and God bless. :cool: