"Red, yellow, black, and white, they are all precious in His sight..." Yes, they are all precious in His sight, and in our sight too! But... what "color" child do we feel comfortable raising? That question has been haunting me. When a couple gives birth to their own biological child, they don't have to make decisions like what race, gender, possible birth defects, or problems to choose from. Adoption is a totally different story. We have filled out a form entitled "adoption preferences." On this form we get to check off boxes about what race we prefer and problems the birth mother has in her life. This process really makes you do some soul searching. Noel and I have found that we are pretty open to a few races (or combination of races) and several potential issues. I am not worried about how we, our families, and friends will love and accept our child. But I am worried about how community and society will accept a child who does not look anything like their parents. If we adopt a fully Hispanic child, will they be accepted by their Hispanic peers who are raised in a culturally rich home? We are about as "white" as you can get, so will our child feel like part of our family even if their skin color is different?
Today we met with Adoption Angels. We were very happy with the meeting. We gathered a lot of good information to think about. There are definitely pros and cons for Methodist Mission Home and Adoption Angels. The cost at Adoption Angels will probably be a little more because we will be paying for the birth mother expenses. These expenses vary from person to person. The wait time does seem to be shorter, but there are never any guarantees. The main thing we didn't like about Adoption Angels is that all the fees and expenses are non refundable. This means that if after you have paid $4,000-$6,000 for the birth mother's expenses and she keeps the baby, you are out that money. It does not get refunded or applied to the next birthmother. The good part is that all the other fees are transferable. Also, if we needed to put the adoption on hold we can do that indefinitely and our fees would still be counted in our account. One really good thing about Adoption Angels is that they take adoptive parents from all over the USA, but only 4 are from Texas. Since most of the birthmothers are from San Antonio, they typically want a Texas family. We had the adoption counselor review our "adoption preferences" checklist and she said it looked really good because we were open to so much. She said that all couples are matched between 6-12 months. This is much sooner than Methodist who said the wait time is 18-24 months. Those are just a few differences that we will have to think and pray about. More than anything we just want the Lord to lead us to wherever our baby is.
Today we met with Adoption Angels. We were very happy with the meeting. We gathered a lot of good information to think about. There are definitely pros and cons for Methodist Mission Home and Adoption Angels. The cost at Adoption Angels will probably be a little more because we will be paying for the birth mother expenses. These expenses vary from person to person. The wait time does seem to be shorter, but there are never any guarantees. The main thing we didn't like about Adoption Angels is that all the fees and expenses are non refundable. This means that if after you have paid $4,000-$6,000 for the birth mother's expenses and she keeps the baby, you are out that money. It does not get refunded or applied to the next birthmother. The good part is that all the other fees are transferable. Also, if we needed to put the adoption on hold we can do that indefinitely and our fees would still be counted in our account. One really good thing about Adoption Angels is that they take adoptive parents from all over the USA, but only 4 are from Texas. Since most of the birthmothers are from San Antonio, they typically want a Texas family. We had the adoption counselor review our "adoption preferences" checklist and she said it looked really good because we were open to so much. She said that all couples are matched between 6-12 months. This is much sooner than Methodist who said the wait time is 18-24 months. Those are just a few differences that we will have to think and pray about. More than anything we just want the Lord to lead us to wherever our baby is.
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