Photolistings/interstate adoption questions

I am considering adoption of an older child and it's more than possible I may ultimately seek interstate adoption. My state has a small population, an even smaller population of children, and an even smaller number of kids in care. Add to that a family RU rate (with either bio parents or other family members) that's something like 60 percent. I believe we had fewer than 200 adoptions all of last year. Statewide.Questions:- Do states have all their photo listings on adoptuskids or do they have separate photo listing sites with separate kids? (My state seems do only adoptuskids, but other states have additional sites. I just can't tell if all the same kids are listed both places.) - Do CWs ever actively search outside their state for adoptive families or is it up to me to see a child on a photo listing and submit my homestudy? (I didn't know if there was any kind of national homestudy bank/listing that CWs logged onto and searched to find a match when there was no match in state.)- Which rules and regulations would I follow-- those from the child's home state or my state?- Would the adoption be finalized in a court of the child's home state or my state?- What should I be aware of with interstate adoption? If you've btdt, what caught you by surprise? What would you have liked to have known?Thank you!!

I am considering adoption of an older child and it's more than possible I may ultimately seek interstate adoption. My state has a small population, an even smaller population of children, and an even smaller number of kids in care. Add to that a family RU rate (with either bio parents or other family members) that's something like 60 percent. I believe we had fewer than 200 adoptions all of last year. Statewide. Questions: - Do states have all their photo listings on adoptuskids or do they have separate photo listing sites with separate kids? (My state seems do only adoptuskids, but other states have additional sites. I just can't tell if all the same kids are listed both places.) Some states have their own like Texas and California. - Do CWs ever actively search outside their state for adoptive families or is it up to me to see a child on a photo listing and submit my homestudy? (I didn't know if there was any kind of national homestudy bank/listing that CWs logged onto and searched to find a match when there was no match in state.) I never found anyone looking for me. I had to search for my kids. - Which rules and regulations would I follow-- those from the child's home state or my state? Both. It's a real pain. In our case, it didn't seem like anyone knew what was going on. - Would the adoption be finalized in a court of the child's home state or my state? It can be either. Ours finalized in our home state. - What should I be aware of with interstate adoption? If you've btdt, what caught you by surprise? What would you have liked to have known? I didn't realized how rare it was to adopt out of state. It seemed like they had to totally "reinvent the wheel" for our adoption. It took many years to find my kids. You really have to advocate for yourself. Search for kids, follow up, make sure you have a great homestudy. I had to get a private homestudy. Our DSS homestudy was really lacking. Check out Adopt America Network. I think they made all the difference in our case. They also send out info on kids who might not be on the photolistings, yet. Thank you!!