anyone from TX?????????

I did not adopt through an agency, but CPS. I would talk to your social worker and ask who the adoption case worker is for your agency.

as the pp find out who the adoption care specialist is in your region. Our group that we will be placed with in the next week was not on TARE but we found out about at the adoption match party. We also found out that there are a ton of kids that are on 'broadcast' . The adoption specialist should be able to have your caseworker put on the most active lists for these kids. There are many here in region 6 that were Caucasian and 0-6. Of course this was out of 'our' age range LOL! we are the ones going for the teens! But there were many more children available for adoption than what you see listed on TARE. According to a supervisor we spoke with there, there are many reasons sometimes the kiddos don't get up on TARE, some just basic laziness or what have you, but the cws do have 45-90 days to put up their listing as well. I was really surprised at how many children were available for adoption versus what I had seen on TARE. I had basically memorized every picture on TARE so I was pretty aware of who was up there. At the match meeting there were several couples who were also looking for 0-6 caucasian children too and they found several in every book. Also there was more information available than what TARE gives you. Of course, TARE is the glorified version of the child in his/her/ their best light. I would definitely get hold of the adoption person and they will be able to let you know if there are any match parties coming up and be able to put you on the broadcast list for your agency. As I found out you have to do much of the legwork yourself! Good Luck! BTW, we are straight adopt through CPS, not through an agency. We were 1-4 children ages 7-17.

What regions are yall from??? Thanks for the advice:thanks:

we are in region 6 (Houston) and we are adopting from region 6.

We are from Texas! We found out recently from two different agencies that they would not work with us because we had said we wanted to adopt 2 siblings both under the age of 5 or 6. I was shocked and so upset. We were told that there were not enough children in that age group and if children were available they would be adopted by the foster parents. Has anyone else had this experience? We decided to expand our age range and we are working with one of the agencies. We still want 2 siblings. We are starting the application process now, so we are a long way off from possibly being matched. What is an adoption match party?

tctahoe - what's an adoption match party? I've never heard of that before. My agency seems to be really lax in sending me any children available for adoption. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact we're foster to adopt as well. I think they send the kids available to families that strictly want to adopt only.

Every region has their own match parties I believe. I think there are different types of match parties too. Ours actually did not involve meeting any children. We went to the regional CPS office and they had a room set up with supervisors, cws, etc who had binders full of pictures of kids available for adoption in our region. There were 6-8 binders around the room and if there was a group or child you were interested in their cw was their to speak with and you could get more detailed information about them at that time and actually talk with their cw which is what we did. The next day you could submit your homestudy on who you wanted to. But like I said there were a ton of kids and these kids were considered on broadcast. This means that they are 'supposed' to be broadcast across all the channels and any 'matches' are supposed to be contacted so the children don't have to be put up on photolisting. FYI: We were never alerted of any broadcast though our cw though. There are alos match parties where you can actually meet the children,such as at BBQ's,picnics etc. The match parties are usually quarterly. I would contact your cw or the adoption specialist for times and dates of upcoming match parties.

We are region 2 in North Texas. When we originally went to the orientation for CPS, there were 2 agencies that presented themselves kind of as "screeners" who went thru the CPS pool of children & who could get us the infant we wanted. At first, we thought about going thru a Christian Agency that was based in Ft. Worth, but thinking of opening an office here. We were the only ones to apply, and they decided not to move here due to lack of particiation. So we ended up going straight thru CPS, and I have to tell you, while not the easiest road, it was the best for us. We began classes 3/06, didn't get our license until 5/07 (was wondering if we ever would) but then had our first newborn placement in less than a month. She stayed 4 mos, & immediately after we received a 6 m/o placement. They said not to get attached, he'd only be with us a few days. (God always has a plan, it just doesn't necessarily look like the plan we would choose. LOL!) He has been with us over 19 months, and IF the appeal is affirmed will start adoption proceedings for him in the next few months. (We did have one other placement for a short while during the time he has been here.) We got involved solely to adopt, but felt like the foster/adopt was the best way to increase our chances of adopting an infant. I have heard so many sad stories about agencies not getting placements to foster families, many times who have gone thru more scrutiny or more training than CPS requires. I'm not sure what criteria are involved in placing children thru agencies, but have found that going thru CPS seems to be the fastest road to foster/adopt. As you stated, foster parents are given preference because they have already established a long relationship with the child. I guess when the goal is reunification (as it always is) they opt to put the children with foster parents who know that there are good chances, but no guarantees of getting to adopt a certain placement. I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that this is the path that has led us to this 2 y/o boy who has lived with us most of his life. He considers us his parents, he's lived an "almost" normal childhood, and he is the joy of our lives. I understand the reasons why some go thru agencies, but don't understand why so much more is required, but so little results are seen. I am sorry that ya'll are going thru this. I hope it gets better soon.

Thank you for this! We have wanted to switch the CPS for quite some time, but something is always hindering us. We have a placement now (only thanks to a CPS supervisor we've gotten to know) and have to take a needed training in 2 wks through our agency. After that, no more stalling, we are switching to CPS. I agree with you that even though it may take a little longer initially, CPS seems the better avenue for younger children to foster and then be able to adopt. tctahoe - thanks for your response. Once we switch to CPS I'll be asking about these.