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My husband and I have one biological son who is 2 and were scheduled for our last home study visit tomrrow with the intention of adopting from Ethiopia. We had always planned on international adoption and when a second pregnancy seemed unlikely decided to move forward. So much to our surprise, I found out last night I am pregnant. Now I'm trying to sort through a strange sadness....feeling like I have lost out on the child we were waiting for.....anyway, knowing there's a reason for everything...I am looking for advice. Our agency drops our application at this point. So I am looking to see what options may be. With a completed homestudy can I just sit on this until I deliver in November and then get on a waiting list with another agency? How long is our home study good for? Do my bio children need to be of a certain age when we apply? It would likely mean that an adopted child and our second child would be of similar age but there would be at least a year between each of them joining our family. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Kelsi,
The quick reply is that it really depends on the agency. Some agencies require a 1 or 2 year age gap with the children in the home. Some don't allow out of birth order adoptions. I do know of some agencies that will not stop the adoption process once you become pregnant but I do not know of agency that will let you start while you are pregnant. However, it is worth calling around and asking the various agencies since each agency is different. Also, with some agencies having a 18-24 month waiting time they may be willing to move forward since the child could be over a year when your child from Ethiopia comes home. Have the conversation with many agencies. Also, ask your homestudy agency how long your homestudy is valid for. Keep in mind that once your new child is born you will be require to update your homestudy to include the new addition. This is often a simple process.
Samantha
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