After several months of completing paper work, medical tests and interviews, our Home Study has been approved. . .Whew! This means that we can officially start looking for a suitable match to help us start our family.
We'd like to take a moment to thank all of our family and friends for their support, energy and excitement. And, we'd also like to thank those of you whom we've met through this process and have provided us with invaluable advice. Thank You All!! We're looking forward to updating the blog in the future with more positive news.
Melissa and Seth
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Loving couple and their journey towards adoption.
Melissa, Seth and Noah
Our Family
- Melissa and Seth Adoption
- Melissa, Seth and Noah melissaandsethadoption@yahoo.
10 comments:
Hi Guys,
I was really touched by this site. Two things came to mind after reading it- have you been in touch with Jeiwhs Social Services Agency in DC? They have adoption services. Here is their site http://www.shalomdc.org/page.html?ArticleID=92223
We also have the Jewish Family and Children Services in Boston that provides adotption services, I'm not sure if they work out of state, but it's worth a call. http://www.jfcsboston.org/fcs/adoption_resources.cfm
If these places aren't right for you, at least they may be able to share some more information about the adoption world.
Best of luck!
Your name and information was sent to me this AM through an email chain….As a woman who was unable to have children of my own we considered surrogacy, infant domestic and international adoption, but ultimately decided to adopted a sibling group of children classified as “waiting children.”
We knew we wanted more than just one child and adopting a sibling group kept children together and gave us what we wished for a full family in one swoop. In December 2004, we adopted two boys/brothers from Rhode Island’s state foster care system. They had been in state care for 18 months, were well cared for and just needed a permanent placement. The process of taking a state adoption course, home studies, and presentation of children took approximately nine months.
I would just encourage you to spend a few days considering a sibling adoption of waiting children under the age of 5 that are currently in state care…there are hundreds of these children waiting for good permanent homes and clearly you caring and capable parents.
We adopted Luke and Adam when they were aged 5 and 3 ½ respectively. Now Luke is 8 ½ and Adam is 7. While many people fear children that are in the state care have suffered physical or worse kinds of abuse and are permanently and irreparably damaged, many are just in situations where the family structure fell apart and no other family was available or capable of taking the children into their own homes. Many feel that adopting non-infants while inherently mean serious emotional or behavioral problems. That is usually not the case if children are adopted before the age of 5. Both boys are doing well in school, socialize well with other children and present no behavioral or emotional issues.
Luke and Adam’s biological family just fell apart…Also having seen my aunt adopt a sibling group 18 years ago, I do believe adopting children that have a known/present biological link to another is a huge benefit to their emotional development……(the later issues of feeling isolated and not connected by blood to anyone around them is lessened. Luke and Adam know they will always have another blood relative to rely on that is close to them and available to them to grow up with…
Anyway, you might have already considered this or maybe you will go forward. I truly empathize with your situation as it sounds as though you have had an extremely difficult path.
I wish you the best and just would encourage you to consider this option…
Thank you very much for your love and support. We really appreciate your comments, advice, and caring.
Melissa and Seth
Have you considered adopting a child from the Ukraine or China? My son & daughter-in-law adopted 2 darling little girls---5 & 7 years old-- from an orphanage in the Ukraine. Just a thought--good luck!
I work with two faculty who have adopted children internationally. I don't know anything about the process, but they seem very happy about it and one of them just recently adopted a second child in this way. Only if you would like, I can let them know about this blog and ask if they have any ideas, thoughts, etc.
My wife and I adopted our son through an amazing agency out of Utah. I can't say enough wonderful things about this agency and the how easy they made the process. The negative was that, depending on the birthmom, the process can get expensive. Here's the site:
http://www.aactofloveadoptions.com/
Good luck!
New suggestions from people I've heard back from:
Look at website and consider contacting this agency in FL. but not sure if they work with out of state people. www.jafco.org (Jewish adoption and foster care organization). I was told, "You've got to check this site out!"
Call Howie Cohen in metro Atlanta at 404-245-4154 if you want to get info. about an adoption broker through whom they adopted out of state twins. They felt like using this avenue definitely sped up their adoption time. He goes to our temple, Temple Kol Emeth, and his sister in law, Suzette, gave me his number. He may remember my name but not sure.
Love,
Cousin Arlene
9-30-08
Dear Seth and Melissa, I certainly hope your wait won't be much longer. I was glad to hear you are pursuing the adoption option. The website is incredible, and thank you for your openess in sharing yourselves and your challenges and dreams. You will be the most awesome parents, and some baby will be so very lucky! Happy New Year to you and the rest of the family. I've spread the word far and wide; my contact list has 1400 or so names, and though some bounced back, a lot didn't!
A nurse I know said a lot of adoptions transpire via prospective parents first becoming foster parents to inner city children from baby to age 2,so she suggested this if you want to investigate. I could certainly empathize that it would be hard forming attachments that didn't result in adoption... Much love from your cousin, Arlene Mix
forwarded from a friend of Arlene Mix:
I'll spread the word - do you know we adopted Rachel?? I know how they, and you, feel -- they need to hit every possible avenue. In NY I was on the board of the Adoptive Parents Committee for years - and coordinated the 1993 Annual Conference -- 2,000 people, over 100 exhibitors, over 100 workshops -- both pre- and post- adoption -- both domestic and international adoption. Do they live in the NY area? Even if they don't they should try to attend the conference -- always held the Sunday before Thanksgiving. People come from all over North American and Canada. There's nothing like it anywhere -- more valuable information in 1 day than they'll get anywhere else. It's been 16 years since we adopted, but I spoke to over 100 birth moms and I know the pain.
Here's the link to the Conference site: http://www.adoptiveparents.org/
They're welcome to contact me if they'd like to. I wish them a short journey on the roller coaster of a road (but always a successful one!) to adoption. :))
Love,
Jane Corby, janie725@hotmail.com
Also from Arlene: Atlanta Jewish adoption agency: www.cradleoflove.org
From Jeremy Mix's teacher, Carolyn Griffin
4th Grade Teacher
Mt. Bethel Elementary
Arlene,
Please pass this information along to your family member that is
interested in adoption.
Hello friends and family!
I hope this email finds you well! I wanted to let you all know that I
am doing some consulting work with an adoption agency- Valley of Hope
(www.valleyofhope.net). Since Audrey's birth I've been wanting to get
into the Adoption industry and I finally have the opportunity to get
involved.
Valley of Hope is a small agency located right here in Woodstock, GA where
I live. Over the past year, they have helped over 30 families from
many different states with their adoptions. Valley of Hope is not your
typical adoption agency. So many families sign up with one agency and
are put on a long waiting list and are told they will wait a year or
more to adopt. Valley of Hope truly advocates for their clients and take
a more comprehensive and personal approach towards adoption. We have
developed a strong network of relationships with many adoption agencies
and attornies across the United States that allow our clients to have
the opportunity to be presented to birth mothers with not only our
agency, but with the network we have established. This system has helped
our families match quickly! So many people believe it takes years to
adopt domestically, but the longest a client has had to wait with Valley
of Hope to be matched with a birth mother is just 6 months!
If you or someone you know is interested in adopting, please contact me
at ariana@valleyofhope.net.
Take Care,
Ariana
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