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Hello everyone I am new to this and I have a million questions. My husband and I are in Gwinnett County, Georgia and we are ready to start the adoption process. We are going through DFACS. We have been to orientation and we take our IMPACT training at the end of the month. We are only looking to adopt and we are looking for a child under 3. Which we have been told will be impossible. I am just wondering where we go from here? Has anyone had any experience in Gwinnett? I have read good and bad things about them so I am a little confused. At the orientation we signed up with an outside agency Georgia Mentor that handles adoptions for Gwinnett, has anyone worked with them? I am just wondering what to expect.
Good Luck on your quest. I also live in GA, Cherokee county. We did foster to adopt and wanted to adopt a child from birth to 5 years old. We were told it would be hard to find a younger child. After 3 years we left the DFACS system and went through a private agency located in our county. It took 9 months with the private agency for our placement to occur.
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Hi July 0707. I live in Gwinnett County as well but have no experience regarding DFACS. We adopted DD independently using an attorney. Just wanted to wish you luck!
Hello everyone, we got our class schedule in the mail yesterday we are going for sure starting May 29th, what an exciting adventure this will be. I have a question about the cost of going through a private agency, the reason we are going through the state is because from what I hear private adoption is very expensive, does anyone have any suggestions. We are holding a huge yard sale next month to raise money to start preparing our house and other expenses.
I registered with Henry County, Georgia DFCS wanting to adopt a single child OR 2 siblings, ages 0-8 years old, with at least one child being a girl. I registered with a private agency for international adoptions at the same time. After FIVE YEARS, I was still on the waiting list with DFCS but I had 3-year-old and 5-year old daughters from the international agency so I dropped off the DFCS list.
We did a private adoption using an attorney and spent under 6k. I know there are at least few other people on here who spent about the same amount we did.
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Hi! I'm also in Gwinnett, but no help since we did adoption #1 through a facilitator and then adoption #2 was independent because it was the same birthmom! Good luck to you. Looks like there are a lot of us in the ATL
I lived in Decatur GA for years but have moved since. I was told the same thing that it takes forever and chances of finding an infant are slim to non. That is why I went to a private agency and it took less than month. Hang in there and God will make a way.
Another local here, NW of Atlanta.
We looked into DFACS, many yrs ago, but opted to wait. We later signed for international.
Best of luck to you.
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Georgia is a "reunification state." Most states strive for reunification if it is in the best interest of the child, GA on the other hand takes it the the extream, and reunifies at any cost. This is why there are hardly any children 5 and under to adopt. Many of the kids that are in the system were placed as small children, sent back home and then entered the system again in a never ending cycle, they are now teens with little to no chance of being adopted.
The children I was going to adopt were with me 7 months, went home, 3 months later came back to me and then 6 months later back home. They are now back in the system again we could not take the boys back this time so they are in a differnt home. I hear this same story over and over from foster parents all over GA.
We also had a 12 year old come and stay with us for 3 years, we wanted to adopted him but his dad would not sign his rights away. He was serving a prison term of 10 years and still had 4 years left. He fought the courts and won the boy will be 16 when he gets out of prison, and has told me, his case worker, his CASA and the judge that he will run away if they make him go live with his dad. Sadly our home was closed when we decieded to persue a private adoption and they moved the boy to another foster home. They said they had to close our home due to a conflict of interest on our part.
I understand reunification, but these kids deserve better than this. For the most part unless termination of parent rights have already taken place, do not get your hopes up over a placement in your home.
Florida is just as bad... in our case we were going to adopt a baby that was born, and mom decided to parent. All dcf workers recommended AGAINST sending the baby home to this crack house. Bio mom had already lost custody of 4 other kids and had felony neglect charges against her.
WELL I guess they have attorneys who overrule even the social workers and investigators, because that's what someone did. (I'd like to find out who that was!) They sent the baby home and 5 weeks later step dad murdered him while mom was out prostituting. Not only that but they gave her back the other 4 children as well.
Sickening, apalling, heartbreaking!!