New and have TONS of questions!

Hello... welcome to the boards. I hope you will be able to find the information you need here. I will try to answer your questions based on my knowledge, although DH and I are not military, so those specific aspects of your questions I can't help with. As far as I know, homestudies are only good for one year, yes. So I assume you would need to wait until DH gets home to begin the process. Posts about agencies are not allowed on the open forums -- any communication about them has to be done via PM. Hopefully some people will PM you with their agency recommendations. My advice is just to contact every agency you can find. Ask them for information, and just weed through it until you find ones that fit you. They will all have age requirements, marriage length requirements, and other requirements. We ran into trouble with length of marriage as we had only been married a bit more than a year when we began our adoption, and also with age requirements, as DH was 25 and I was 27. But there were plenty of agencies that would have worked with us, anyway. I don't imagine you'll find a shortage of agencies either. Just don't get discouraged when you find some that won't work with you for whatever reason. There are plenty that would be happy to, I'd bet. In response to your question of fears of not being chosen... we live in a low-income area and still make less than most people here. There are many people who make more individually than we do together. We were very worried about not being chosen, mostly for that reason, and so we did what we could to alleviate those fears by choosing an agency with a waiting list system. There are not very many agencies that do this, and in fact, I believe the one that we used has discontinued their use of that system. I don't know of any other agencies that use that system off the top of my head, but it might be something to look into, anyway. Are you completely set on domestic infant adoption? Because, if not, there are TONS of other countries that do adoptions, too. They all have their own requirements, but it might be something to at least look into. Good luck. I hope your adoption journey is a good one for you.

Hi Casey. My DH is a Marine. I'll try to answer some questions. -No there's not a lot you can do for your homestudy beforehand. We too decided to adopt before :marine: deployed for 9 months. All you can really do until he is home is maybe select a HS agency and fill out some of the paperwork, and shortly before he's home, get your physical done. Tri care will pay for one a year. -If you want to do an agency adoption, research while he's gone. -Don't worry about not being chosen (I assume you're doing domestic) because of your DH's rank. I was worried too (:marine: is also an E-4) and we're less that 3 weeks till pbmom's EDD. *However, you do need to be financially stable, which is different than making a lot of money.* My advice is to take the time during this deployment and work of paying and debts and save as much as you can! -Again, do not wory about not being chosen because you're a military family. Each pbmom has the things that are important to her and there just may be a pbmom out there looking for an army family. HTH!

Casey, I want to echo a bit of what DDWife said, and just to let you know I'm not an expert at adoption because we're just beginning ourselves. But...when your DH deploys save any extra income from his deployment pay. Or, if needed, pay off your debts first. My DH was deployed for 22 months and we were fortunate to save a lot money towards the adoption. Also, there are other things you can do while your DH is gone. Like someone mentioned before: Research the adoption agencies and if you don't have certified copies of yours and your DH's birth certificates, request them. Plus, read through the posts on here. I find them very educational, especially since I know no one who has adopted. Good luck and congratulations:cheer: on your decision to adopt.:)

Have you considered Foster/Adopt? If you'd like information that is what we did so I may be able to help you.

HI Casey, I can't answer any of your questions but I wanted to introduce myself. We seem to have some things in common. I'm Jennifer. I'm 27 and I did 8 yrs Active Army before becoming a SAHM to my 18 mo old daughter. My DH is still Active and is an E-4. We just PCS'd from Hawaii (stationed at Tripler) to Fort Irwin, CA. I have always considered (and still considering) adoption because I was adopted. Since DH is a SPC we are not rich, but could afford to provide for another child. We wonder how much adoption would be up front and how difficult it would be since we are constantly moving int he military. Please PM me if you ever want to chat.