Want to adopt newborn in Georgia

hi there i can only tell you what i know based on my experience with the Florida foster care system (which I assume has similar laws to GA about this issue according to A LOT of things that I have read about subsidies for adoption etc) Children that are "state" children (and therefore cheaper adoptions) are generally considered to be special needs children.... which does not specifically mean dissabled. some categories of special needs besides disabled include: --children over a certain age (in FL it was 8+, i think it is 5+ in GA) --children in a sibling group where you take them all (which is probably what happened with your boss and his boys) -- or on occasion, when a significant bond has been formed (for example, you have fostered a child since birth and they are now toddlers+) (I haven't heard about this one in GA though) We were also told when we asked in Florida what happens to the little ones who come into foster care, that they are sent to agencies for private adoptions. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but I hope that in this case that it is different in GA. Best wishes for you...

hi there My husband and I want to adopt an about infant. We thought about a child from the state but after talking with people from DCF, in FL and GA because we are just over the state line, we decided it wasn't for us. We were told all the children in state care- adoption ready- are special needs kids. When they do get infants they are placed in foster care and the foster parent gets first choice when/if the child goes up for adoption. In most cases the foster parent does adopt. We were advised by DCF, that if we wanted an infant we should become foster parents. We decided against that because in not all cases does the infant get placed for adoption. We are now trying independant adoption. We found that the cost is usually under 5000. Mostly attorney fees. Good Luck, M

I'm also looking to adopt an infant from the State of Georgia. My husband and I will be attending an orientation on 9/13 (tomorrow) to learn more. From everything I've read, most babies are in foster care and the foster parents have the first right at adoption -- if indeed the baby is up for adoption at all. This is a big emotional risk that I'm not sure I could take! So we're opening ourselves up to adopting a baby of any race. Maybe this will help? You're welcome to send me a private email and maybe we can share information as we learn things.

[url="http://www.nacac.org/stateprofiles/georgia.html"]http://www.nacac.org/stateprofiles/georgia.html[/url] Georgia's legal definition of special needs is as follows:who is considered special needs is: (a) any child 8 years of age or older; (b) any child of Black heritage, 1 year of age or older; (c) members of a sibling group of three or more; (d) members of a sibling group of 2 where one is over the age of 8 OR has another special need; (e) any child with documented physical, emotional, or mental problems or limitations. This is a very interesting thread for me. We finalized our dd's adoption just this a.m. It was a long very rocky road. You must be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster. Nothing is going to be easy and never ever are things going to proceed fast. With all that being said, we wouldn't change a thing. Our journey was worth the sweat and tears, cancelled court dates and sleepless nights. Our dd is now ours. We originally started out with a private agency only because they could get our homestudy done much quicker than DFCS. Our agency was contracted by the state of GA. When they lost their contract with the state, 7 months and one failed placement into our adoption journey, we had two choices, move the study to another private agency or to our own county DFCS. DH and I asked a lot of questions and finally decided we wanted to cut out the "middle man". Every move we made had to go through our agency worker, who then had to contact DFCS (or someone else from a state which we were looking). Then you had to wait for them to call back your worker who then had to call you to relay all of the information. I have told the story in many threads, but when our homestudy was transferred to DFCS they immediately identified us for a sibling group. We wanted to adopt these little girls but there were some disagreements between DFCS and therapists over what type of home they required. Long story short, they were never placed with us. It dragged on for nearly two months. The same day I received the call that it was a done deal we were not going to be getting the girls I received a call only about an hour later from our CW. She was fully aware of the fact, because we were upfront from the very beginning, that we would not foster because we did not want to become attached to a child who could then later be taken away from us. It was then that our cw explained "foster to adopt". They had a child who needed a foster home. There was only one birth parent and she was not working her plan. It was further explained to us that DFCS would be filing for the termination of the parent's right or TPR, in less than two months. They were very confident that the judge would grant the termination and since the child they had available was in our chosen profile of children to adopt they felt it was a great fit. DID WE WANT TO TAKE THE RISK? Honestly we never even hesitated. The bureaucracy is never going to change so the termination was not filed until January and due to continuances and much other gobbledy gook beyond any of our control, termination was not granted until July. Were we nervous? You betcha! The bmom had begun working her caseplan just enough to "try" to convince the judge she was sincere. IF the child had not been in care so long already he stated he would have granted her more time to get her life straight. In the end he realized that our dd needed to go on with her life without having to wait to see if the bmother was going to be able to stay clean and off of drugs for another year. The moral of my story as I step off my soap box :) Our family had great success with our county DFCS. Even through the turnover of yes, 4, caseworkers, they have always been there for us. This of course may not be the case in all counties, but DFCS are the ones who receive the children first. Whether they are removed from the home, picked up from school or a hospital, DFCS is responsible for finding a roof for the child. Yes, foster parents get first choice on children young or old, unless a family member of the child is found (and can pass a homestudy) before the TPR. We have done some respite care since our dd was place with us a year ago. Last week DFCS called us for a 6 night respite. I had to turn them down because we had family coming into town and wanted the time to be special for our dd's finalization. The cw was extremely understanding. I will never forget when she said that since we were becoming adoptive parents with them we would always have first choice on children when they come up for placement. She did not want us to worry that by saying no we would some how suffer some backlash for our actions. If you need to please feel free to PM me.