The Department of Social Services mailed us a packet of information to read over. It was included in this information that they have no children under the age of 6 available for adoption at this time. However, this really means nothing to us because we are not even eligible to adopt until we complete the 30 hr adoption pre-placement prep class. This class has already begun for this season and the next set of classes begin in September. Shawn is deployed in September. We will not be able to take the classes until the spring classes in 2013. We have filled out a document requesting that we be put on the list for the spring 2013 classes. There appears to be nothing more we can do with the DSS at this time.
We have been in contact with a private agency who works closely with the DSS. The agency is called "Children's Home Society" (CHS). They have a great website with children's profiles and many children have created a video to share. CHS provided us with an information packet and an initial application to complete. The information packet explains that they offer adoption from the foster care system, but that they also have no children under the age of 6 available. It is a state requirement that we complete the 30 hours of classes, but this company has staff who are certified to teach the classes as well. We might be able to complete our classes through this agency instead of waiting until spring 2013. But because Shawn leaves in a month for deployment, we probably can't do the classes until he returns at the end of the year.
We filled out the application and it's been mailed to the agency. The agency will review our initial application and contact us by phone to discuss our next steps in this adoption process.
It's a little discouraging that there are no children under the age of 6 available for adoption. We hope that by the time we are finished with the application process and home studies that things might change and we might be able to adopt a child between the ages of 2-5. Crossing our fingers. We really want Kiley to be the oldest child in our family mostly because she's been used to being an only child.
There's always the choice to adopt internationally, but for me, I would prefer to adopt from our own country where I know there are children in need of homes and in need of love. Our desire to adopt a child within a specific age range might prove to be too difficult to accommodate, so we'll have to make a decision. If we want a specific age, we might have to look internationally.
