Waiting in San Bernardino County, CA

I'm in Riverside county. They call me ALL THE TIME to take kids. I've taken my name off the list of waiting families and they still call me begging to take kids. They are so overloaded. So... 1. Are you looking for something in particular that means you'll have to wait? 2. There are many different types of social workers. You need to be in touch with the PLACEMENT worker. S/he is the person who will be placing kids. When you talk to this person, tell them what you are willing/able to take. Also ask them to email their list of social workers & let them know your home is available for placement. You should get 10 calls within the next week. I declined my first phone call for placement and then didn't hear anything for 2 days. I was nervous I had upset someone. Then I got 7 calls the following day (even after I had already accepted!) Good luck.

Are you serious?Weve been approved since November 2010, and have received one call.What are your preferences?Tam

I think that maybe your (thismommylife) talking about foster not strictly foster to adopt. At least that is what is sounds like. Nevertheless it sounds like Riverside county is moving quicker. Thanks for the advice. I will continue to call my worker to check in. This is something I recently started doing. It at least makes me feel better if nothing else. I know that we were told the wait would be longer for foster to adopt. I wish there was more support for waiting parents. We seriously are very open to almost everything. We are open to more than one child. I just think the process is soooooo slow right now. I would love to hear from San Bernardino county foster to adopt parents that have been matched recently. But there seems to be very few on the boards. Hopefully the phones start to ring soon.

Yeah, thismommylife...are you talking about fostering or foster-adopt? I am also in Riverside County and have only received one call since we've been on the foster-adopt list for a month. We agreed to the placement only to find out the matchers goofed and had already scheduled a full disclosure with another family. We are open to a lot, high risk concurrent planning, 2 kids..open on age, race, gender, special needs/concerns. etc. Hmm...

Still waiting? We adopted thru SB Co. a couple of years ago. They are very overloaded with kids and understaffed with workers. I sense from our experience...we had two workers quit the dept during our process... that there is alot of burnout. In fact, I know that even to be the case in San Diego Co and LA Co where we also have adopted from, and I was told not to go into social work by a family counselor due to burnout. It was a very slow process. But, I can promise you that it's well worth it. Just when I had given up on getting a placement after being approved for a about a year, and I feared my husband would get orders to a new military base, we did get the call. It was for an 11 month old boy who became the light of my life. I have three wonderful kids older than him who are great blessings, but this little man is a constant source of happiness and joy because it's just who he is. Additionally, after we adopted him, a year after finalizing, we got a call from LA Co that they had his baby sister in foster care and were looking for an adoptive home. So Nov 2010 we finalized her adoption. San Bernardino was slower in the process than San Diego, but the workers were no less caring than in SD. ;) I think it just takes longer in San Bernardino because the courts are busier... that's my theory anyway. Here in NC adoptions take twice as long than in CA because there are fewer family courts so they are more backlogged. Anyway, hope you get good news soon! It was crazy... we finally got that long awaited meeting about our 11 month old, and we went to the meeting and we told the workers we would take the mandatory period to think about it but we were sure. ;) Then on the way home, which was 90 miles because SB Co is the largest county in the US in land mass, we got the call that if we were sure we wanted him could we come back to the office immediately because his foster mom had lost her license in a surprise inspection. I suspect her landlord turned her in due to some dispute they were having. So we went to the meeting and came home with an 11 month old! We had to stop on the way back to the office and buy a carseat. It is one of the best days of my life! LOL

We are still waiting. We are close to a year from finishing our home study. We took our classes in 2009. The wait is terrible. I am a teacher and about to be on summer break for a couple of months. I was hoping that I would be spending my time bonding this summer. I am still crossing my fingers. But I am starting to wonder why it needs to be this difficult. No wonder there are so many kids in the system. I am trying to be positive. But some days are really hard. There is an article in the Huffington Post about adopting in Cali. Read it. It is so true! Czrfloridian- so glad that it finally worked for you. I have hope! Check out the article at: [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-katz/california-adoption-why-is-it-so-hard_b_854715.html]Jeff Katz: California Adoption -- Why Is It So Hard to Adopt From Foster Care?[/url]

Wow, we are seriously considering the process with SB county but had no idea things were moving along so slowly. Just curious of what your willing to take on in a child? Also, have you considered switching to a private agency or doing both? Don't know much about this and if agencies are okay with it, but the wait seems ridiculous.