Our first agency

Nick and I had our first appointment and I am so glad it's over!! I was so nervous about going! We met with the director Rima. She is very nice and seems to be a very kind and sweet person. Nick and I really like her. Her process is the same as most agencies. You fill out an application and send it in along with the application fee ($50) and the homestudy fee ($1000). After you are accepted, you begin the Ohio-required 24 hours of training. Rima does the training and it's free if she does your homestudy. After the training is over, the fun part (haha) begins... the homestudy. The homestudy is when she or another assessor comes to the house and makes sure we have room for a child and that our house is safe. The homestudy also includes gathering a million documents as well as writing autobiographies and putting together a profile. She seems to believe that this should take less than 2 months. After our homestudy and profile is complete, she sends out our profile to different agencies that place infants. Once we are matched with a birthmom (or in some cases, after the baby is placed in our care), we would pay that agency's placement fee (typically between $10,000-20,000.) Rima doesn't charge any placement fees on top of that. After the baby is in our care, the state of Ohio requires post-placement visits until finalization, which is approximately 6 months after the baby is placed. Rima's fees for post placement visits is $150/visit and she said they usually have to visit 7-8 times. There is also a $250 pre-finalization cost that, I believe, covers Rima filing court paper work. We would also have to hire an attorney to finish the finalization process. I'm not sure how much that is, but I'll be calling around soon to find out! We asked Rima how long most placements take and she said any where from 1 to 18 months after the homestudy is completed and submitted to various agencies. However, she said since we are willing to accept any race, that it increases the number of places that she will send our homestudy/profile. She gave us information on an agency out of Oregon that places African-American, Hispanic and biracial children. On their information packet, it says the waiting time is approximately 6 months after homestudy approval.

One of our biggest concerns (as I'm sure with all adoptive parents) is actually getting matched and having the birthmom change her mind. In most domestic infant adoptions, the birthmom gets to pick the adoptive parents. Some agencies allows the birthmom to pick a certain number of families and then "interview" them. She can pick one, but also has the opportunity to change her mind about which family later. In other agencies, the birthmom is given profiles that match her preferences and she picks one family from the ones she's given. Rima told us that a little less than 50% of birthmoms change their minds about placing the baby for adoption at all!! I was shocked when she said that. I knew that some did, but I had no idea that the percentage was so high!

I'm sure there is more that I learned and that I'm just forgetting. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask. I don't mind telling others what I've learned!

Tomorrow we are going to Adoption Connection in Blue Ash. I'll let you know how it goes! :-)