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My husband and I have talked about adoption off and on for years, but just very recently decided to start actively pursuing adoption to grow our family. He's active duty Army; currently assigned to Portland ME, state of residence is MA. We know finding the right agency to work with us as a military family could be challenging (especially residing in an area of the country with no major military presence), and we're looking for any advice, encouragement, etc, that you can offer. One newbie question: what adoption laws do we even follow - those for the state where we live or the state where we're residents? If anyone is from the area and can refer us to an agency you had success with locally, or can recommend a national agency please PM me. If you're just starting out and want to chat, that would be great, too! Thanks!
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We are working with ANLC that says they have experience with military families. I am very pleased thus far. I am not aware of rules placed on you regarding the state you are from or living in----it's more about the state the baby is born in....if you are doing domestic infant I guess. I hope this helps: )
Since posting, we signed with an agency and have completed our home study, and are now a waiting family for a domestic infant adoption. We are still residents of MA, but our home study had to be completed by an agency licensed in ME where we live, and the adoption also will have to be finalized in ME. The process seemed so confusing at first, but once we sat down and talked with a few agencies, it became clear how to proceed.
Best of luck to everyone waiting to adopt! It's certainly that much harder as a military family on the move. Our agency had never worked with a family that needed five states worth of background checks for the previous five years of residency! : P We're fortunate to know for certain that we'll be here for two more years, but afterward we'll be back to at least bi-yearly reassignments, so hopefully we can complete our adoption here before the next PCS.
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Thanks, Chris8! We actually were just matched with a son two weeks ago - we had a hour's notice, so it was a quick change to our family, but that's where all that military resiliency and last-minute-changes training came in handy ; ) We've been working with a local agency in Maine called Stepping Stones.