our local agencies

yesterday i finally made calls to some local agencies.  it turns out that there are only about 4 different non-denominationally-affiliated adoption agencies in our town.  not that i’m opposed to denominations, but if i’m not Catholic or Mormon, it feels sort of misleading to apply for adoption at one of their agencies.  anyway, we’ve already met with one of the other four agencies awhile back because a friend recommended that one.  In our conversation with her, it seemed like their agency works more with international adoption, so we’re checking out the others, but keeping #1 as a back-up plan (they have done domestic, but just not as frequently).  Here’s my report on the other 3 in case you’re curious:

#2–A largish organization that another friend worked with.  The first step in their process is to attend one of their informational seminars (or pay $100 for a private meeting at your convenience) which happen about four times a year in our town (they have other meetings in other towns in our state too).  The next big informational meeting isn’t until May 27, and we don’t really want to wait that long, so I think we might try the $100 option.  in the big scheme of expenses for this adventure, that seems like pocket change.

#3–A smaller organization that only does in-state, domestic adoptions.  They also only have 20 “active” families in the pool at one time, so if you want to work with them, you basically have to get into a waiting list to get into the active pool.  I called and right now they’ve got a full pool of 20 PLUS 8 on the waiting list (they limit the waiting list to 10, so apparently it might be possible to be on the waiting list to get onto their waiting list to wait).  She talked about how there’s one adoption that should be clearing imminently, and two more in June and one in July (when the babies are born and assuming that everything goes through without problems) and sort of thought we might be able to get into the pool of 20 by this fall sometime but…. i just don’t think i would enjoy being on the waiting list to wait AT ALL.  i think we’ll skip this organization.

#4–another small organization (possibly only one person?).  The first step in their process is a free, one-on-one meeting to talk about the options.  We’ve got an appointment to meet with them on Monday night.  They do both international and domestic–domestic mostly from Georgia, but also Illinois and Texas–so we’ll see!