New and looking for advice and suggestions.

I see that no-one has responded to you so I will even though I'm not in central Florida. Most agencies that you work will there will be issues. Sometimes they work smoothly othertimes there are bumps. I don't think IMO one agency is beter than the other. In my county there is only 1-2 agencies that I know of that can license. One of them is for your regular foster home license and the other is for special needs children, whether medical or a therapeutic home. I hope this helps. Feel free to PM if you have any questions.

Start by taking the MAPP classes, you don't need an agency to take the classes. A lot of the YMCA's offer the classes. You can learn about the agencies and talk to other families that way. I don't know where you are in central florida, but in Hillsbourough county they all have good points and bad points. Good luck!

We too are in Central Florida. I keep hearing how desperately adoptive families are needed for kids of all ages stuck in care. After doing a lot of searching around on-line... I am beginning to get a totally different "picture". Mainly 9yo. and older kids available. Unfortunately, we just can not go older, as our adopted son is 7 and we feel that would be unfair to him. Suggestions? We are signed up to start MAPP classes in winter park on the 24th. Thanks for wisdom.

Your research is right, there are not that many younger children available for adoption. Situations do come up once in a while, but just know if you are doing just adoption you could be waiting a while. Most of the younger children are adopted by the foster parents that they where placed with early on in the process. We waited almost a year to be matched to a child. We where asking for 7 and under. There where very few matches out there. Another thing to think about is that some of the younger children up for adoption are part of a sibling group. Are you open to more then one child?

I'm in Texas and our classes and all the ohter stuff we needed to do didn't really take that long. We began our classes in late Oct. Things got really slow over the hloidays, but in late Jan we were back at it. Many people in our classes finished months before us. We finished in May.

Well, we attended the orientation last week and our MAPP classes begin on July 8 in Winter park. Did the person who started this thread sign up for classes yet? We could be diving in together!

Don't give up, that is the best advice. We started to just get licenced for adoption in Feb of 2005. After getting nowhere. We dicided to foster parent in 2007. We have also adopted a Baby girl who has DS, Our angel. It took quite some time to get licenced. but it is well worth it. I just know that we get constant calls from our agency to take babies. You just have to take the chance, as long as you can handle them leaving. You may get lucky and be able to adopt one. The need is great for babies in foster care. It is not easy, but well worth it. Bio Mother it 3 grown daughtersAdoptive Mother to Our Angel 5/20/07Foster Mom to Drama Queen 11/27/97 Stinker girl 9/9/06 Former foster Mom to 3 girls gone home 1 Moved to special placement 1 teen to treatment program

I'm in Volusia County and have been working with a private agency hoping to adopt a newborn. We took the MAPP class just in case a situation came up. I'm now considering switching to foster/adopt. I hear lots of stories about people getting placed with babies and ending up adopting them. I know it is risky because I don't want my heart ripped out. I am also mentoring a 17 1/2 year old who is getting ready to age out of the system. Mentoring is great and has taught me that once you become part of a kid's care team you really do love them. I would even consider having her move in with us in the next few months or when she turns 18... it is still early but she is already part of my family and I only see her once a week. This is a great realization for me 1. An older child fits into my family 2. It doesn't take long to invest your heart. My plan was for an infant... God's plan is often very different from mine and I'll probably end up with a 17 1/2 year old! I'm going to a matching event. Even though I want a baby I know I love kids and if we connect with a kid then we will pursue that as well.