i fell in love again today

and I am frustrated BEYOND belief. His case worker is on vacation and no one is handling things while she is gone? really? So this little one is in limbo? I've even tried the state's Department of Social Services and no one there had a clue. I just don't get it. It is terribly frustrating.

I have learned that when we find a child we are interested in, we need to act quickly, email is no longer a quick enough option, phone calls need to be made, but there is no one taking calls on behalf of this sweet boy??? Oh, governmental bureaucratic BS, get out of my way! I'm an expectant mother!

No, you can't always get what you want

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need...

– The Rolling Stones

can't get it out of my head...

patience *heavy sigh*

“Thank you for your interest in [insert name]. The child/children have been matched with a family and we are no longer accepting home studies.”

Support H.R. 213: The Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2009

This bill will prevent the 2001 Adoption Tax Credit from expiring in 2010. This tax credit enables thousands of Americans to grow their families via adoption. Without it many families would not have the financial resources to bring their children home. Please click on the button above to learn how you can help make sure this credit will still be available to adoptive families after 2010.

Read more here.

Introducing Anthony and Michael

Attention Michigan Parents!

Anthony (Tony) and Michael

I would inquire about these two cuties in a heartbeat but these children need to remain in Michigan in order to facilitate regular contact with siblings and relatives.

Michigan's waiting children: http://www.mare.org/WaitChild.html

Legal Risk Placement

A foster/adopt term to know:

In a legal risk placement, it is expected that the family will eventually adopt the child, even though the birth parents’ rights have not been fully terminated at the time of placement.

Introducing Dustin, Rodney, Ashley, and Katie

Dustin, Rodney, Ashley, and Katie

Dearest Reader,

I've decided to post photos of waiting kids on my blog from time to time. We are able to adopt two at the most, so unfortunately we are not the right family for Dustin, Rodney, Ashley and Katie, but maybe you are. Some kids just touch my heart. I will share those kids with you and maybe some families will be born.

Texas Adoption Resource Exchange: http://tare.dfps.state.tx.us/search/SearchMain.jsp

If you click on their name in the post title, it will link you to their page.

Forgive me if some kids are no longer available, I'm sure I won't be able to keep up with that depending on how many children I post.

through 7-year-old eyes

A 7-year-old friend of mine was searching for kids with me one day last week during my lunch hour.

Like me, he was surprised at the amount of kids without parents.

Like me, he was also surprised at the amount of kids in their late teens waiting for parents. He wondered why kids who are so old would want parents, "why don't they just get in their car and go?" I explained that everyone wants to be part of a family and asked him where would they go for Christmas. This caused him to re-evaluate his original thought. Yes, everyone should have parents.

Like me, he was fascinated by some of the kid's names, as well as the kids who, like him, are 7 years old. We learned that Skyler is a very popular name for both boys and girls. We learned that sometimes we cannot tell from a name if the child is a boy or a girl. He asked if we wanted a boy or a girl. I said we'd like a girl or a boy.

Like me, he cannot wait for us to have kids.

update

Now that we've widened our search to include children up to age 5, I am learning a lot of new things.

For instance FAS stands for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Read more here.
(There are also FASD which is Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.) I see it listed both ways.

We are hoping to adopt a child/children who is/are "developmentally on target."

It is our belief that children with special needs deserve a stay at home parent. We also think a special needs child would benefit from parents with parenting experience.

I am surprised, daily, at the number of children available for adoption from the foster care system in this country. I look at their faces and wonder how they've ended up in "the system."

whose mother am I

post that has been kicking around in my head to be written later...

Two Little Girls: A Memoir of Adoption

In Chicago, Theresa Reid and her husband had lucrative careers and a beautiful home. What was missing from their lives was children. But they knew in Eastern Europe, there were children who were missing parents-and they set out to find their family. This is Theresa's account of how Natalie and Lana came to be her daughters-a journey that takes readers not only to Moscow and Kiev but into the deepest parts of a mother's heart. Reid addresses the issues that arise for many an adoptive parent- including the guilt over taking children away from their roots, and the slow, stumbling steps toward trust and tenderness that played out between them. For any parent, adoptive or not, this book offers not only a compelling story but valuable insights into the transformative power of loving a child.

Just came across this, anyone read it yet? feel free to comment.

I was Googling 'adopt a healthy child' and came across this post So You Want to Adopt a Healthy Infant. Which caught my attention with the first paragraph

These days, when people say they want to adopt a healthy infant, they receive dirty looks from some in the adoption community. “Why not adopt one of the hundreds of thousands of children waiting in foster care?” people ask. “Why not adopt one of the millions or orphans from around the world?”

If you want to adopt a healthy infant, some insinuate that you’re an adoption traitor. They imply that you should be more altruistic and less selfish than to desire what every parent who gives birth wants: a healthy baby.

See the rest of the post here...