Help in San Bernardino county

We are currently going through the process with the county itself. I have read bad and good things with going directly through the county but so far we have had no problems. We went to our orientation at the very end of January & started pride classes in march. We are toward the end of our homestudy now & should have it within 2 months. Are worker actually already approved us and put us on the list even though she has not done my husbands single interview or finished our homestudy. I also think some agency's charge you money were with the county it's free ( I would rather save that money & spend it on the child). It's really up to you, I know the biggest reason we chose the county was even though we don't pay for anything the homestudy is ares to take with us if we choose to go some place else and most agencies own your homestudy and if you choose to go someplace else you can't take it with you and have to go through the process all over again. Hope this helps.

Hi.I originally went thru San Bernardino County when I lived in the high desert. No matches, never heard anything.Then I bought a home in Riverside County and had to start the process all over. I am with Kinship Center out of Redlands now. They have been wonderful!!! They are so much easier than going thru the Counties. They register you with San Bernardino, Riverside, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange Counties once you have finished everything and are licensed. This gives you 4 times more chances of being matched! They work closely with the counties and the whole process is the same, just 10x's easier!! They make you feel like family and are with you every step of the way. I highly recommend them over the County any day!!I finished everything April 5th and the following week was presented with a 9 yo girl, said yes, but they ended up choosing a 2 parent home. Then a week later was presented with a 5 yo girl, was 1 of 3 families they were deciding between...didn't get her. Now on July 10 I was just presented with a 7 yo boy and it looks very promising. Praying non-stop that he is the child God has for me.Good luck with whatever you choose!!

We are currently going through the county (SB) and I have not had any problems at all. We took a short break after orientation to do some things we thought at the time should be done before starting this ride (we were in the middle of home remodeling) and then a month long break for our family vacation during summer. Aside from those short breaks... those process has been moving quickly. We are in the middle of our homestudy and I have my single appointment in less than a week, with my husbands single appointment a week and a half after that. We were told we should be done by the end of August. They are so amazing about getting back to me quickly (phone calls and emails) but I will say that we have given our paperwork back to them within only days of them requesting. We've been great on our end and in return they have been amazing on there end. We have great chemistry with our licensing worker (LD) and homestudy worker (WK). I can't really comment much on another agency since I have no experience but I would think your "contact" with the agency could help speed along those requests you have... and if he/she can't, them maybe the contact is not really much of an incentive? I just know that the county has been great so far and I'm happy where we are right now. I'm hoping our wait for that first placement call is not too long, but I'm prepared.

We attended an Orientation last month and the workers said they really need baby families!

The best recommendation I can give is go with your gut. Just because your friend works for an agency doesn't mean that agency has your best interests in mind. I am going through Riverside county and am very happy with my decision. They do everything according to the laws of the state and country and seem to be in it for the right reasons. Good luck with your decision!

We are going through the county, but have an agency that does our homestudy. We've heard from several people that the county gets to find homes for the children first and then, only if they can't find a match, do they contact the agencies to look for a family. So, it seems like the county would be faster. Now, I'm at the beginning of all this as well. We are in homestudy right now. However, my SIL and sister both got county babies very quickly working with the county straight. It's really just where you feel comfortable and go for it! Everyone will have an opinion that one is better that the other but who knows for sure!

We are also going through the county. We have not had any problems so far. We are in the middle of our homestudy right now with San bernardino county. Our homestudy and licensing worker are super nice and easy to work with. The pride classes were smooth and went fast. We are so far having a good experience going through the county.

After my last reply we've pretty much decided to go with an FFA. It seems more individualized with more personalized attention and a faster system in place to complete requirements. I'll be speaking with them again Monday and deciding for sure.

Good luck making your decision Monday. :) As for the county... there are lots of SW's but for us we deal with all of the same people - so it can be personal too. :) Right now, we have a LW, a HW and a clerical SW so we know them and feel comfortable. :) I think the process is moving super fast!!! I have one more HS interview in the next week or two and then we'll be finalized. :) It's so exciting!

We just finally turned our paperwork to the County and now waiting to hear back - I figure that we will need yet more forms or I missed something on the forms I submitted - anyways! I am nervous and excited.Now for some dumb questions - we have a two story house...do we have to have gates up for the first licensing visit even though we want to adopt (not foster) and no idea when & how old the baby we hopefully get will be???? Honestly the licensing class was worthless unless you wanted to foster - we had 15 couples in our class and nobody wanted to even foster!

Hi 2B, The reason you hear a lot of things about Foster is because when adopting through the County, you will be fostering for an amount of time before the adoption is finalized. As for your question about gates, yes you will want to have those gates up for your visit with the licensing worker. Because she will give you a list of things that aren't done or finished. So her/him seeing the gates up will be one less thing on your list. Good luck

Wow - I had a comment in this thread back in 2012 :)Oh well ... it is sad as my situation is like one above - NOTHING out of San Bernardino County and the social worker ( case manager) we have is WORHTLESS. I don't think she has any actual human emotions, but enough of that!

I'm not sure if this response is a little late, My husband & I are trying to adopt through San Bern. county. For us it has been very difficult to try & adopt. we were given a 2nd homestudy worker, she's very sweet but really difficult as well. The story with our first worker, was she was difficult to work with. Our first adoption homestudy worker, we had her for our foster homestudy. She said she was an adoption worker, but assigned to our case. Which I requested to use her. My mistake. I wish I never had requested her as our adoption worker. my husband & I were approved as foster parents. Since we had issues with the 1st worker we were given a 2nd worker hoping to start over again. I would suggest if you adopt through the county you be very careful with how you approach adopting with the county. I'm pretty sure it's been 3 years & My husband & I are not yet done with our homestudy. This is only the homestudy. My husband & I finally finished up with counseling. which we were told go to counseling, this will only help you get get a glowing homestudy report. The counselor we had was great. We had such a hard time to get to go to our own person. Finally, The county reluctantly agreed to this. There was a whole nother story regarding the county's counseling policy. If you are told you need to go to counseling. With adopting through the county if you say something or give your opinion regarding anything & the county doesn't agree with it or like what you said or answered they can make is very difficult to adopt. If you comply with everything, then things go very smooth & quick. Be very careful with everything you say. everything is written down in your homestudy. I was torn at first to go through the county or FFA to adopt. My thought was, go through the county since my husband & I were approved as foster parents. I think the county should require everyone go to counseling not just pick & choose who they want.Just to see if anybody has any issues. I really think our foster homestudy worker should have had us go through counseling prior to approving us to become foster parents. But... we were told, go to counseling; which we did this. Now with the county if we move forward we have a very slim chance to adopt. We met yesterday with our homestudy worker & her supervisor. I was not expecting this to happen. I thought we would finish with our homestudy interviews. Instead... We meet with the worker & her supervisor. Which they bring up a past issue from when we were foster parents before. Also, They said we have to adopt a 0-3 y/o healthy girl; which this does not exist. With the past issue... This was the very first time we had a foster child so we were learning. Also, with the fact regarding adopting a 0-3 y/o child. Which is not what I wanted. I was hoping to adopt age 0-9 y/o boy or girl. We were told yesterday, the age recommendation given by your counselor is age 0-3 girl. Which he only suggested this. But the county turned this around stating. We are required to adopt a 0-3 y/o girl. Hopefully any one reading this will get some use or information from my experience. if you have any questions comments you can send me a PM. Thanks, Bonnie

Still waiting since 2013 - I think the County of San Bernardino is just not doing their jobs! Serious - busted for letting a few kids get killed by their so called birth parents out in the high desert and wow - the LA Times had a damning article about San Bernardino as well.We are way past getting an agency, but that is what we should have done from the start I guess. And the County freaking lied about all those babies being available - maybe to get FOSTER parents signed up, but not adoptable.

When my partner and I separated last year I was struggling to cope on my own with 2 kids emotionally and financially. With the help of a small loan. Now I was able to get back on my own two feet again with less stress and in a steady time manner. Thank you once again for your kind service and helping hand.