Thanks for sharing your story! I hope and pray your wait to be parents won’t be too long!
Carol Lozier
http://www.forever-families.com

We have adopted from the foster-care system and are in the process of doing so again.  There are so many deserving children who want what every child wants/needs:  a permanent home and someone to love them as only a parent can.  We did not have to wait long at all because we were not focusing on infants/toddlers; our twins came to us at the age of 7, and our new sons are 15 and 17—in each case, we were finalizing the adoption after a a mere six-month waiting period.

Thank you for your story!  And thank you for your decision!  US Foster adoption wasn’t the right fit for our family but sooooo many people make us feel bad about that that I didn’t even want to read your post…. but I’m glad I did and again a huge thanks to you!

Thanks for a good article!  We’ve also adopted from our state’s foster care system and hope to do so again.  But I’m wondering what state you live in that pays for in-state college tuition?  That’s wonderful!

We have adopted from foster care as well twice! Going though round #3 very soon ! We live in Texas, where our children will receive free in state college tuition as well ! We previously adopted from California, sadly they don’t provide the tuition for our kids. Good luck on your journey, we have been growing our family for over 14 yrs now, so patience is definitely required for fost to adopt!

Thank you, friends!

VintageMom, I live in Florida. I am very thankful for the free in-state college tuition. One less thing to worry about in the future!

Buddha Lady, our home study was approved for children up to 8 years old. Not sure where you live, but it seems that here in Florida there is still a bit of a wait for elementary school aged kids. If my Husband and I had more parenting experience or were a little bit older, we would have considered pre-teens or teenagers. I’m sure we would have had a shorter wait, like you experienced in your situation. We will probably consider that in the future.

paintponyscout, I’m so sorry that anyone has tried to make you feel bad about how you chose to grow your family. I doubt that those people understand everything that goes into making a decision like this. You did what was right for your family, and that’s all that matters.

Wow. Wondering on an update? I was in the system myself, and have five children adopted thru foster care. I know both sides. It’s amazing hearing about people who see foster children as they are, gifts, and speak up for them.

Thank you so much for sharing your story.  We adopted our daughters through the US foster care system.  Our girls came from some very difficult circumstances and of course this scares me every day, but my daughters are absolutely amazing and they have been the greatest blessings that I have ever received.  One thing that I find unfortunate is the common misconceptions and stigmas attached to children in the foster care system.  When we adopted our kids, lots of family and friends thought we were crazy.  They were scared for us believing that our lives would be impacted in negative ways because of the “issues” that would come with our children’s experiences.  While every day has certainly not been easy (whose is?) our children have shown us an amazing resiliency and have proved over and over that the human spirit can overcome difficulties and still thrive.  While our continuing journey has been a long and often difficult one, I would never change one thing.  It has absolutely made our lives complete and there is nothing else in the world like it.

ForeverMommy, we adopted first in California and then Ohio.  As I said, our twins, who came to us when we were fostering in CA,  were only six, and we adopted six months later when they had just turned 7.  California has a HUGE amount of children waiting for permanency and I don’t know anyone there who had to wait any longer than we did, and some of them adopted infants and toddlers.  Your point about experience is well-taken; my husband and I had already each raised bio-kids with our previous spouses, so adopting teens actually works with both our ages and levels of parenting experience.