New and needing help...

Welcome to Oregon! You will need to have a homestudy approved by your state. In Oregon adoptive families can have this home study done by DHS or by another private agency that meets the states requirements. You might call your social service office and find out if they also recognize homestudies which are approved by private agencies in your state. HOWEVER--I am inclined to advise you that an adoption of Oregon children would more then likely go much smoother if you do work with you state scocial service office....for several reasons. First of all the caseworkers who handle the children DO NOT speak with the prospective adoptive parents unless or untill they have been considered as a placement possibility and then they still may not communicate with an adoptive family until that family has been decided as the placement. Our state is very firm that adoptive families do not communicate with the childrens casewroker and all communication is done only with the adoptive families caseworker..... Secondly--Oregon children are very often placed before the termination of parental rights is completed. And Oregon requires all adoptive families to be suppervised for 6-months before an adoption is final. The superivision will go on monthly until it is final and in Oregon it usually takes at least 8 months if there are no hang-ups. Oregon sees children placed in pre-adoptive homes as Foster Children. Therfore all adoptive families must be certified and are paid as Foster Families until an adotion subsidy agreement has been established. There really is no way to get around this. Oregon does not have a system for placement other then as Foster child in a pre-adoptive home. It is NOT--I repeat NOT the foster to adopt program however which is very different. The foster to adopt program is not well used in Oregon as this state moves for permanancy rather quickly and seeks to place any child with an adoption plan in to a pre-adoptive home as quickly as possible. Oregon seems to prefer families that are willing to committ to adoption prior to placement over families who foster hoping that a child will become open for adoption. So when you do have your state work on this case and your homestudy be sure it is done as an adoption homestudy and not as a Foster to adopt homestudy. The fostering is simply the method the state uses to monitor the situation and to handle the money and other details. Most of the info you would get after a placement will read "Adopt pem plan" and not foster parent. It is just the way Oregon is able to manage the cases and it is the method that triggers the support services your family would recieve during the time before the adoptin is final. There are some other interstate paper work issues and payments of services that would be much easier handled by the state social services office.....a private group in this area might not have the experience the social service caseworkers do have (I could be wrong so do call around) Good luck and if you need anymore help dealing with Oregon we have a number of very active members here including an attorny so just check out Oregon under the Adoptive parents and Foster To adopt families on the forum here....I am sure you will find our people to be very helpful. Oregon is known to be one of the easiest states for other states to adopt from.

You have been very helpful. I wanted to add that I noticed your signature line - and I too have a dd named Tori, only mine is 10.

When my ex and I chose the name TORI we had never heard it before---then Tori Spelling hit fame! Now and then we run into an older Tori but not many! I love the name a lot!