Are you adopted or an adoptive parent?

i was adopted by my stepdad when i was like 10...

I am working toward adopting children. My wife and I want to adopt siblings if possible, a girl 4-5 years old and a boy 2 or younger. We don't know what country to adopt from or if we should stay in country.

My wife and I started the process in April and adopted our first child in October. Our final court date is on Feb.2nd. We were set up with an awesome liason thru a friend. She walked us thru the whole process and put us in touch with a lawyer and agencies. We decided to stay domestic in our adoption search. Typically foreign adoptions are less expensive than domestic adoptions, but they usually take a couple of trips over seas. However, there are many domestic babies that need homes and can be as affordable, if not a great deal less, than some of the foreign adoptions. You just have to decide on what you are comfortbale with and how long you are willing to wait. The truth: newborn, domestic caucasion babies are harder to find and generally more expensive. It's a fact. We were advised to keep an open mind and see what situtaions presented themselves. We were blessed with a baby in an extemely short time. He was in need of a family and we were prepared. Now our baby boy doesn't "look" exactly like us skin tone wise but he's happy and healthy and adored by both our families, our friends, and community. It's the best thing we have ever done. The fact is so many people want such specific criteria in their adoption search that they lose sight of the real purpose; giving a child a home. Again, it's all about your comfort level. It's an extremely personal decison. I hope that helps. BTW I'm in Atlanta, I'd be happy to give you more info if you like.

armymike, ask CardiacCards on insidetheville about it, I know he just went through the process of adopting a baby from china.

my grandfather was adopted, meaning my surname isn't really from my blood family. I always thought that was interesting

I can't adopt from China. I don't have a high enough income. I would have to make $80,000 annually to adopt from China.

Choo Choo, does the baby you adopted have any special needs? My wife and I had always taken it for granted we'd adopt from overseas. That's because we thought it was harder, longer, and more expensive to adopt from the US. Now we have learned that we could adopt an african american or mixed race child. That would suit us fine, it we can get the right ages to fit our family.

Our situation is indeed considered a special needs case because he is "transracial" (the new buzz word). Again, you would be floored by the number of babies and children that are overlooked and shuffled into the system because they have been lumped into this category. I highly recommend looking into it. For us it's been nothing but positive.

I admire all who adopt kids. Good Luck with your quest!

Mike, I think that

My brother adopted a boy from the Ukraine.

One of my sons is adopted. I adopted him at the age of twelve so he still has ties to his blood family and we've blended pretty well. I'm a single father and although his mom wasn't very good at being a mom, he loves her dearly. The funny thing is his birth certificate now just has my name on it and no mother's name.....very odd.

[quote="CardHouse"]Mike, I think that