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shabadoo
09-01-2004, 11:34 AM
My wife Patsy and I are in the process of adopting an 8-month old girl from the Department of Social Services in Massachusetts. We have had her in our home for two months. She is beyond perfect. She is small for her age, but was not preemie. She is in perfect health and is slightly ahead developmentally. She has a happy personality and is so cute that she stops traffic. We'll be in Babies R Us and people will walk by a line of babies and ignore them, but stop dead in their tracks when they see little Rosa!

It's looking as good as it can look for the adoption becoming final next month.

We are not wealthy people. We work in social service-type jobs and both of us have been involved in the past with DSS as a part of our work, which is how we learned about their adoption program.

But we didn't go the DSS route because it doesn't cost anything--though to be fair, we could not have afforded to go through a private agency. We went this way because we encountered these children and heard their stories daily. We found out a year ago that we could not have children of our own, and while the prospect of adoption filled me with anxiety, as I look back, my anxiety was unecessary.

I don't want to sound like an ad, but I hope that others will consider this route when thinking of adoption. There are risks, but there are also advantages over private adoption.

Our story may be atypical as far as the low risk and the unusual cuteness thing, but I hope that our success will inspire others to consider this option.

--Al
Boston, MA

icunurse
09-01-2004, 12:06 PM
Congratulations on your impending adoption! We adopted our son and it was just finalized, so I can totally appreciate your excitement. I think it is great that you are sharing your success with state adoption. Sometimes it seems that we don't hear a lot of "happy endings" by that route. But, as you pointed out, you are very lucky that you have not only a healthy child, but an infant. I live around Chicago and the wait for a child less than 1 year with minimal risk factors can take many years (if you are willing to wait that long).
One more thing....and this is one of my few hang-ups with "adoption-speak".....I understand what you meant in your post, but in the adoption community a lot of people get a bit miffed when they hear the "your own" thing. You, like me, can't have biological children, but we have "our own" children. (I know the lingo takes time to get used to, but it is important to get it down while the children are young). Anyway, enough of my rambling. Congratulations again and welcome to the boards!

Traci
~Connor's Mom~

momathome
09-01-2004, 12:07 PM
Al-
Best of luck to you and your wife on your adoption journey - Rosa sounds like an angel! My grandmother was a foster mom who took in many children over the years and adopted a little boy through the system who was a hemophiliac. He brought her great joy for the 11 years that she had him. Sadly, he died of a brain aneurysm when he was a child. I would never rule out the possibility of fostering or adopting in the future - there are way too many children who need a good home! Congrats to you and your wife!

shabadoo
09-01-2004, 04:19 PM
> One more thing....and this is one of my few hang-ups with
>"adoption-speak".....I understand what you meant in your post,
>but in the adoption community a lot of people get a bit miffed
>when they hear the "your own" thing.

Thanks for the heads up, Traci! I'm ashamed to say that we don't hang out enough with other adoptive parents, so there's all this stuff that we're so unaware of. It's not a choice, it's just that we've been so busy and things happened so fast that we never plugged into that community. It's something we'd definitely like to do once things settle down.

--Al

kfcboston
09-01-2004, 10:17 PM
Al -

Congrats! I guess I wasn't totally aware DSS had an adoption program. Any chance that's where Jack Williams gets his Wednesday's Children? I LOVE that segment.

Best wishes!

jubilee
09-02-2004, 02:53 AM
Congratulations and welcome to these boards!! She sounds precious, you are both very blessed. :)

shabadoo
09-02-2004, 07:42 AM
>Congrats! I guess I wasn't totally aware DSS had an adoption
>program. Any chance that's where Jack Williams gets his
>Wednesday's Children? I LOVE that segment.

As a matter of fact, it is. There's an organization called MARE (http://www.mareinc.org/) that gets the word out in ways like Wednesday's Child.

--Al