How long is
the wait?
One of the
first steps in the adoption process is to complete your home
study. You won't
need to wait long for your home study if you are motivated.
The length of the waiting time for the home study is
really up to you. You provide the documentation necessary
and we will do your home study completely,
accurately and in a
timely manner.
In regard to
how long before you get your baby, remember that adoption
is highly sought after and the waiting time for placement can be
impacted by many factors. Some
tire or lose hope because of the wait time. But don't give
up. Remember, there is
hope! The
wait time
can vary widely from as little as 1 month (which is rare) up
to several
years.
When
choosing a domestic adoption program families always
want to know, "How long will we have to wait to get my baby?"
Primarily, it comes
down to four important principles:
1.
The number of adoptive families applying for adoption as
compared to the annual number of children placed by birth parents.
2.
The desires of the adoptive family regarding the characteristics of the
child to be adopted including background, race, health, disabilities,
post placement contact including pictures and letters.
3.
The desires of the birth parents regarding the characteristics of the
family the child is to be placed with including background, race,
health, disabilities, finances, religion, marital status, work status,
post placement contact including pictures and letters.
4.
Costs associated with the adoption and the ability of the family to
cover the costs.
In most cases, waiting time estimates are simply an adoption
professional's and adopting famlies’ best guess. Generally
adoption
professionals are not intentionally trying to mislead people or give
them false
hope. Rather, they know the variance in adoption and they have seen
some
families placed very quickly whereas others have taken much longer. There are ways, however,
for families to better
estimate actual waiting times for the adoption programs they are
considering:
Ask
the professional or agency you are working with on your adoption
plan the annual number of adoptions that they took part in personally
in the past
year.
It
will also help for you to ask:
How
many adoptive families do you currently have applying
for adoption?
Of
your annual adoption number, how many of those adoptions
did the agency/professional find the birth parents?
What
is your average waiting time to be placed for an
adoption?
It
is a critical step to consider and determine what is
important to your family in your adoption plan. The more flexible you
are as a
family regarding your adoption plan, the more exposure you will receive
to
expectant mothers, which can potentially reduce your waiting time.
Here
is one example: between
60-70 percent of birth mothers smoke during their pregnancy. Therefore,
families who will not accept smoking by the birth mother exclude
themselves
from about 65 percent of their adoption possibilities. As a couple or
family, it
is important for you to discuss these facts with each other and then
communicate these with the adoption professionals. Most adoption
programs will
be forthright and honest regarding how a family's openness or lack
thereof
might affect their wait. Also consider:
Some
adoption programs require different things from their
prospective adoptive clients. For example, some adoption professionals
only
perform open adoptions. An open adoption is where there is degree of
contact
post adoption between adoptive families and the birth parents. The amount of contact
varies depending on the
desires and agreements made between birth parents and adoptive parents.
The
birth parent(s) generally choose the adoptive family from
among several that are presented to them. Most
birth parents have
strong feelings about who they want their child
placed with based on their circumstances. Even
though this choosing
does affect the waiting time, this is one factor
that you cannot control. You
can however
influence this with carefully considered words and a well thought out
and
presented birth parent brochure. A birth parent brochure is created by
the
perspective adoptive family and it should be created professionally
understanding
that there is potentially an element of competition as you
“go up” against
other families being considered. Women
choosing to place their babies for adoption do so for a variety of
reasons and
the decision is one of the hardest decisions a person may face. This
helps the
adoptive family to understand, at least in a small degree, why the
decision of
choosing the family to place her child with is so important and why she
will
typically be very thoughtful in choosing her family.
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2010 copyright www.UtahHomeStudy.com
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