THE ROAD TO ADOPTION - TRAINING, COST, AND SUPPORT

(MUSIC PLAYS) 

No Audio: Tracey Duncan, Adoptive Parent

Tracey Duncan: All foster and adoptive parents need to and have to go through some type of education course. In this state it's called MAP GPS and it's a wonderful course that really prepares you for this experience. 

I think, for a lot of people, they think, "Wow, you know, I want to adopt, I want to foster, why don't they just let me do it." But what you need to understand is that preparing yourself for that is just as important as you opening up your home for the child. You'd be doing yourself a disservice if you entered into any kind of a committed situation and didn't prepare yourself.

No Audio: Robin Green, Foster/Adoptive Parent
 
Robin Green: The initial home visit where they come out for licensing is... to me it wasn't bad. It's just making sure your house is safe for the child. 

No Audio: Kim Hamilton, Adoptive Parent

Kim Hamilton: For me, I realized that everyone's goal is to find a child a good home and a place where that child can be secure and happy, and that it wasn't threatening, it wasn't that they were coming in to make judgments on our family, but they wanted to see what our family was like and what kind of child would fit into our family, what kind of child we could be a good family for. 

Robin Green: But the home study, not bad. If we can get past the paperwork, we've got it made. 

No Audio: Rick Hamilton, Adoptive Parent

Rick Hamilton: We were very worried about the cost at first. Just because we didn't know, and we happened to look into international adoption first and were just kind of blown away by the costs, and we weren't ready to just give up our dream of being able to add a child to our family. We were quite surprised and pleased to find out that staying domestic, staying in the country, even state to state, is... I mean the cost can be minimal, if any. 

Tracey Duncan: When I adopted my daughter from the foster care system, it did not cost me a dime. 

No Audio: Lynette Thornborough, Foster/Adoptive Parent

Lynette Thornborough: We were amazed at the benefits of adopting a child from the state system. We were really surprised because we had no idea that those advantages were out there, and I think that's not commonly known. I think a lot of people don't understand that there are benefits in the... I mean, not having to pay medical insurance for your child till they're 18, that's incredible to me.  That's a lot. 

No Audio: John Thornborough, Foster/Adoptive Parent

John Thornborough: Yeah, if financial reasons are the roadblock that's preventing you from stepping out into foster care or adopting, those have been removed by the state. 

Tracey Duncan: Most agencies offer post-adoption services so that if at any time, you know, during the process, even after the decree is final, there's always someone there that you can contact that can help you. 

As children grow older, you know, there'll be different issues that come up developmentally. That's true for our birth children, as well, but certainly for our children that we adopt. And as those situations arise, there is someone that you can contact. 

No Audio: Melisa Page-Bailie, Foster/Adoptive Parent

Melisa Page-Bailie: It's very important to be involved in a foster parent or adoptive parent association. You... what you're going through no other group of people are going to be going through. The issues that you deal with, only with foster and adoptive parents are going to deal with those issues, and it's very important. You've got to have someone you can call that understands, and somebody that'll be there to support you that understands what's happening in your life.