Agency updates

I checked our agency's waiting families list yesterday. It looks like there are two new couples listed, and 2 couples that are now matched with expectant mothers. I'm glad that there's been some activity!

I think we're due to hear from our caseworker the first week of April (if I'm remembering right.) I hope that we hear some news at that point. It would be nice to hear that our profile has been shown.

In other news...One of the couples that is using the same agency is someone that I grew up with (well, I grew up with the wife...J and I grew up across the street from each other.) She and her husband (along with their son and both sets of their parents) are in Ethiopia right now. The couple is adopting again, and they just arrived. I keep checking their blog for updates. It's so exciting! I'm really happy for them. I know they have had a long wait. This is their blog if you want to read about their story: Journey to Ethiopia...Again!

So, that's about it. I've been trying to think of other things to write about...other adoption-related topics. If anyone has any suggestions, you can throw them out there! :)

I did find one cool thing earlier...The Hallmark Channel has web versions of their adoption stories. (I'm assuming it's a tv show, too, but maybe it's just online.) I only watched one so far, but I want to eventually watch all of them. Seems like a really good thing to check out: Hallmark Channel Adoption Stories. There's a season one and two, so there's lots to watch.

Monday's Meeting

The good news is our agency is not closing right now. The bad news is that the economy has had an effect on things. Not enough couples are signing up to adopt. People are not sure about investing large amounts of money when the economy is this bad.

The number of pregnant women coming to the agency seeking adoption for their children has dropped.

They need more money to send to the international programs to help with orphanages, but without additional money coming into the agency, it's very hard.

Many of the countries that our agency works with are experiencing their own problems; waiting parents are facing longer waiting times.

The agency has already tried to cut costs in many ways:

They are starting to do fundraising for the agency.
They are lookng at new ways to encourage pregnant women to consider adoption and choose the agency (Facebook, Myspace, etc.)
They are seeking donations from current waiting parents and relatives as well as families who have adopted previously.
They are raising their fees.

They are hoping that the fees, donations, and fundraising combined with new families that will hopefully come to the agency will be enough to keep the agency going for the next year.

We thought that they might be shutting down some of their offices or doing more layoffs. We hoped they weren't closing. We're willing to deal with the increase in fees. It could be much worse. They could be completely shutting down, and then we would lose the money we've invested. It would cost us even more (money and time) to move to another agency. Plus many agencies are facing these problems, too, because of the economy.

I'm glad that we know what's going on now. We'll deal with it. It's just hard. We're going to try to do some more networking in our community and amongst friends and family.

Today's Consult

We had our consult today at the adoption agency. It went really well. Of course we were both so nervous. I know I barely slept last night. I kept having these crazy dreams, and then I would wake myself up from them. I do that when I'm anxious.

We met the director of domestic adoption. She was really nice and made us feel very comfortable. She told us the history of the agency and then told us about the adoption process. She said the average adoption (domestic) takes 12-24 months with their agency. The birthmothers choose you and then you are matched. They have about 90 waiting families right now. They place about 100 babies per year.

So now it's up to us to take the next step. We need to fill out the big formal application and mail it in with a check. Then we would go to a domestic adoption meeting either in October or November. After that we would move on with the Home Study.

We both left there feeling really positive and a bit overwhelmed. I'm glad it went so well.