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We are an AA family in Montgomery County. We have always heard that there is a need for AA families to adopt AA children. As we contact agencies in the area, we are finding that the ones that say they really have a need for AA families also basically say "it will cost you though." One agency did admit that the cost are high because sometimes the ** does not go through with adoptions and costs invested have to be made up.
We've contacted Catholic Charities (who has a great cost) and they tell us they only place 1 to 2 infants a year. Bethany now has 14 AA families going through the Home study process for an infant and they normally place 8 infants a year. The county tells us that it may take 2-5 years to adopt. Then there are the agencies where the SW or representative who works with AA adoptions is always out of the office.
Then we say okay, let's look out of state and the cost we find are lower, but then you hear about IPCP, the cost of traveling, hotel rooms, etc. Now you're back to where we've started cost wise.
We could borrow the money ($15,000), but that's a loan payment of $300/month. That's $300 that could go toward the child until we get the tax credit.
Based on this, I feel for the CC families. I assume the local agencies are really trying to take advantage.
There are alot of AA children available for adoption in Missouri. They are listed on the state adoption site.
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Julia,
I feel your pain because I'm in the same boat as you. The only difference is we're looking for a AA infant.
I am in the homestudy process now but am concerned about when I finish. I definitely don't think I'll be sticking with MD, mainly because of the cost (I'm looking at $18K) and the revocation period (I don't believe I can handle 30 days of waiting).
I've been looking at some different options. I'll send you a pm although you may have gotten the info from someone else in reply to one of your other messages.
Hope it'll help.
Jeanne
We have had a fantastic experience with an agency out of GA! PM me for name... Also in GA we found a place to stay called Studio Plus, great rate, HUGE rooms(s), full kitchen - the rate we got was supposed to apply if we stayed a week but we were outta GA in less and they let us have the rate anyway :-)
As for ICPC, we thought it was a breeze. I know it varies by your home state. The GA agency took care of everything and we were outta there in 6 days! 6 days which were a totally wonderful bonding time with our 2 day old AA baby, many treasured memories from that time.
ALSO, we were told the wait was an average of 6-18 mos, but we were 2 months to the day! If we ever decide to get our babe a brother/sister we would exclusively work with this agency! (can ya tell I'm happy with them???)
Good luck!
I spoke to two agencies in Chicago IL who quoted quick placements and low costs...around 8,000. I decided to go through the state but if I hadn't I would have went with one of the Chicago agencies. PM me if you would like their name and web page. :)
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I 'd like to know which agency in GA you used. We also used an agency in GA and too were very happy with the whole process. How did you get your ICPC so fast...they told us 10 days - 2 weeks.
PM me with your agency info.
JuliaSherman
We are an AA family in Montgomery County. We have always heard that there is a need for AA families to adopt AA children. As we contact agencies in the area, we are finding that the ones that say they really have a need for AA families also basically say "it will cost you though." One agency did admit that the cost are high because sometimes the ** does not go through with adoptions and costs invested have to be made up.
We've contacted Catholic Charities (who has a great cost) and they tell us they only place 1 to 2 infants a year. .
I live in Montgomery County, too. I adopted through the agency you mentioned in 1998. I have an African American daughter. The whole process took less than 9 months at a cost of less than $2000.00. Everyone in my adoption group (of 7 families) had their baby within the year. 6 had african-american or bi-racial babies. They did 3 or 4 adoption groups a year. I can't believe things have changed so much in only a couple years. When I adopted, I only had to pay for the homestudy & application fee. There was no placement fee -and families weren't expected to cover the birthmother's expenses (living expenses, medical expenses, etc). .
For my second adoption I went through the county. I was planning on adopting an african-american or bi-racial toddler up thru age 5. I contacted DSS in June, completed the homestudy in July and brought home a new baby girl on 8/3/05. She was just one month old.
I guess I've just been really fortunate in my adoption experiences. Before choosing an agency in 1997, I did talk to about 20 different agencies. It was hard to narrow it down to an agency that I could trust (and afford!)
Wow.. we should get all of our kids together... :o)
Kat - that is great that you have a new arrival.. so sweet.. is she thru Mont. county?
mandy
mlbsands
Wow.. we should get all of our kids together... :o)
Kat - that is great that you have a new arrival.. so sweet.. is she thru Mont. county?
mandy
Yes. She's through Montgomery County! The whole process from beginning to end (from first call to DSS to the day I brought the baby home) was 2 months.
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