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GENERAL RESOURCES:
We try here at AdoptNeed.com
to give you a good overview of adoption, but getting started learning about adoption also doesn't get much better than ShaohannahsHope.Org, the adoption-assistance powerhouse anchored by singer Stephen
Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth, who adopted Shaohannah Hope from China in 2000. If the resources and links available
there don't encourage and inspire you, maybe you're barking up the wrong tree!
Adopting.com
is an extensive compilation of various adoption resources and service providers for both domestic and international adoptions,
including a (mostly international) photo listing.
Adoption 101.com is a good
place to get general summaries and beginning overviews of several of the facets of adoption.
Adoption.com
is like an adoption-related flea market on the Internet. Whatever you're looking for, it's probably there somewhere. But
the volume of everything else there can be overwhelming.
AdoptionForums.com
--- part of Adoption.com's megaplex of interconnected websites. On this comprehensive forum board you can post questions
for people who've "been there and done that," or browse existing discussions. An excellent source of independent advice (though
subjective). It also has many more good adoption links. The free registration is worth it.
The
Adoption Guide is a membership site (free registration) that has a forum area for consumer complaints (and compliments!)
about adoption agencies, along with a lot of other helpful info.
The Dave
Thomas Foundation for Adoption: That's right --- the lovable, late CEO of Wendy's, good ol' Dave Thomas was an adoptee,
and an enthusiastic proponent of adoption. The Considering
Adoption? page on that site collects a lot of good resources and perspectives in one place. The site's resources include
help on financing too.
The Child Welfare Information Gateway
is a federally-run site with a massive amount of very helpful information on almost every aspect of adoption, including the
summary of adoption laws linked to below.
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GENERAL RESOURCES: Legal Info
The federally-run Child
Welfare Information Gateway provides a catalog of federal
laws applicable to adoption, and also a searchable index of State
Adoption Laws: A good, searchable summary of key points of state and federal adoption law.
Federal
Laws on International Adoption: This Department of State site digests federal laws and procedures on international adoption.
The fuller article appears >here, and the
printable (and most legible) version is here.
For
Georgia law (aside from AdoptNeed.com, of course!), click over to the Georgia Adoption Law Blog. It is maintained by the Georgia law firm of Stephen Worrall,
who was a classmate of Mr. Bull's at the University of Georgia Law School. As blogs will do, it reprints or links to a huge
number of articles and information about adoption. For a law firm that does not focus exclusively on adoption (its major
focus is divorce/family law), their blog has a lot of good info. Like the Adoption.com
megaplex (from which some of its articles come), it can become an endless string of links to links to more links, but
you can find much that is worthwhile. In addition to the firm's home
page, he also maintains these blogs: The Georgia Family Law Blog, the Georgia Wills and Probate Law Blog, and the Tablet
PC Lawyer Blog. What a techno-dude!
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GENERAL RESOURCES: Books
Adopting
for Good, by Jorie Kincaid, is the best Christian overview
of adoption that we have run across. Adoption has both rabid fans and rabid critics --- the kind who love or hate adoption
so much that they can't talk about the other point of view fairly. Ms. Kincaid obviously loves adoption --- several of her
nine children are adopted, she founded and runs an international adoption agency called Orphans
Overseas, and she makes a compelling case for how good adoption can be. But her book also acknowledges very fairly how
difficult adoption can be in the more extreme cases. There are other Christian books on adoption out there, but we haven't
found any showing as much balance, accuracy, and experience as this one does.
The
Family of Adoption, by Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao is a fantastic look
into the emotional dynamics of adoption. This is the book quoted near the top of our Emotional Adjustments
page. Dr. Pavao is an adoptee herself, a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, and a giant in the adoption community since the 1960's.
She has an active psychiatric practice treating triad members, she has founded several organizations to assist triad members
with adoption's issues, and she has long been a popular speaker for adoption-related gatherings. Her book's format is engaging
too: brief, topical essays that set the stage for many illustrative stories from her years of adoption-related experience.
It leans a little to the politically correct side in places, but overall, this is as good as emotional insight into adoption
gets.
Fast Track Adoption, by Susan Burns, is one of the most informative
books available on independent adoption. Widely available in both book stores and through its website,
this book is the quickest way to get "up to speed" on how the third-party adoption process works. Even for pre-adoptive parents
deciding to go with a full-service agency, this will make you a better, more informed consumer of its services. The book's
advocacy of self-advertising won't be much help to Georgians --- such advertising is a crime in Georgia --- but even so, the
advice and perspective are excellent. Also, it doesn't fully address the issues discussed on our Emotional
Adjustments page (though most of its advice need not be inconsistent with those issues). But keep that in mind.
Tapestry Books is unquestionably the Amazon.com of adoption books.
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BIRTH PARENTS:
Agencies --- If you want to place your child for adoption and cannot do it within your family
or with a family you have met on your own, you may want to work with an agency. If you are
a Georgia birth parent needing financial help prior to adoptive placement, you will probably want to work with one of the
agencies listed in the Pre-Adoptive Parents section below, or another licensed agency, since
they can legally offer that kind of help, and pre-adoptive parents who live in Georgia cannot.
Adoption
"Networkers" --- Or, for the same reasons, you might also want to consider the Adoption
"Networkers" listed in the Pre-Adoptive Parents section below. This would allow you the
possibility of connecting with waiting couples anywhere in the country, regardless of what agency they may be working with.
Savannah
resident Molly McGoldrick, at 912-508-2303, is a wonderful counseling resource for area birth
parents. She has a great deal of knowledge, experience, and wisdom to offer birth parents who are considering adoption.
A New Hope is a support site for birth mothers and birth parents.
As far as we can see, birth parents are woefully underappreciated and frequently virtually abandoned emotionally. The bravest,
most self-sacrificing players in the adoption drama deserve to be recognized, appreciated, and understood far better nationwide.
The
Adoption Network Law Center. (See the cautionary note below under
PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Facilitation Services. It's something birth parents should be
aware of too.) The focus of this nation-wide, Internet-based service is on birth parents and pre-adoptive parents choosing
each other according to each's designated preferences. With the Internet being what it is, and open adoption becoming
more and more popular, the way this service operates may soon be the most common way for adoptions to get started.
Family Life Guide & Links --- Great Resources
for women considering whether a plan of adoption would be the best parenting gift they could give their children!
FM Magazine (the "FM" stands for "First Mothers") is another good place to read and share
reflections on being a birth mother. It seems to be struggling financially, but what they have accomplished is quite worthwhile.
Lifemothers is another support site for birth mothers, or "Lifemothers," as its founding
birth mother prefers (who has also contributed to FM Magazine, above). Tons of stories,
resources, wisdom, and opportunities to share problems.
Parent Profiles
is another place to browse for pre-adoptive parents for your child. It is part of the Adoption.com
megaplex of interconnected websites too.
To search for children placed for adoption, start with the official Georgia
Adoption Reunion Registry for adoptions that occurred in Georgia. More search resources are listed in the Adoptees
/ Reunion section below.
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ADOPTEES / REUNION:
To search for birth
family members separated by a Georgia adoption, the official Georgia Adoption
Reunion Registry is the place to start. The Registry was formed in 1990, but it can help locate available information
well before then. (Because it is state-sanctioned, its procedures --- and fees --- are regulated, and it honors mutual consent
of triad members. Official state reunion registries may not be able to unearth information available through private search
efforts, but they usually reduce the potential for traumatic surprises --- good or bad --- both from the cost of searching,
or from unexpected contacts by triad members. Searches by private investigators can be more costly, more unpredictable, more
risky --- both legally and emotionally, and ... more successful.) Peggy Rothschild, LCSW, is
the Georgia Reunion Registry Coordinator, and she is a very compassionate and helpful lady! Tell her Birney Bull sent you!
The physical address and phone numbers for the Registry are:
Georgia Adoption
Reunion Registry
Families First / Office of Adoptions
2 Peachtree St., N.W., Suite 8-407
Atlanta, GA 30303-3143
(404)
657-3555
1-888-328-0055
The International Soundex Reunion
Registry is perhaps the most comprehensive place to start a reunion search for a birth parent or a child placed for adoption.
The
state-related search resources on this privately run site
are a gold mine not only for Georgians to get started searching, but also for searches in every state.
The Volunteer
Search Network is the web home of volunteers who help each other on an "at cost" basis to search for their triad members.
Good information and links to search resources.
Websites for Adoptee Support are too
numerous to be well-represented here, but a good starting place is the Adoption Triad
Outreach, which has information and chatrooms addressing many of adoption's emotional issues, and it has search resources
too.
The American Adoption Congress is the web home of the biggest,
most active, and perhaps most aggressive, group for adoptees in the country. If you think the issues addressed on our Emotional Adjustments page are overblown or exaggerated, you should hear how angry some of these adoptees
are with a system that has hidden their true past from them.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS:
Adoptive
Families Magazine --- A great source of information for both hopeful and existing adoptive parents. The articles canvas
all aspects of the adoption process, and each issue includes a wealth of advertising on agencies and other support services.
Fast Track Adoption deserves mention here too, though also listed in the Books
section. This is the quickest, most comprehensive book to get you "up to speed" on independent adoption. It will give you
the full picture of what it means to "take control of your adoption plan." (The Fast
Track Adoption website has some info, including the chance to hire the author to consult on your adoption plan, but is
mainly a way to sell the book.) (Oddly, it gives little attention to the issues discussed on our Emotional
Adjustments page --- though most of its advice need not be inconsistent with those issues. But keep that in mind.)
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Agencies: Domestic: Private
Covenant
Care Services is an excellent Georgia adoption agency based in Macon, with a commitment to placing children in homes with
two actively Christian parents --- a requirement they enforce rigorously.
Cradle
of Love is an Atlanta agency, represented in Savannah by Trisha Barrett, who can best
be reached at 912-220-9779. Their toll-free (outside Atlanta) number is 800-219-8254.
Hope
for Children is a well-established, Christian adoption agency based in Atlanta, handling both domestic and international
adoptions.
The Independent Adoption Center is dedicated to open adoption.
It has some of the advantages of the Internet-based facilitators listed above,
but it is a fully licensed agency, providing a more comprehensive range of services.
Lutheran
Services of Georgia is very active in adoption, with programs providing private and public domestic adoption, and home
study services for international adoption placements through other agencies as well. The Savannah location is: 6555 Abercorn
Street, Suite 117, Savannah, Georgia 31405, Phone: 912-353-8875, Fax: 912-356-5057.
Open
Door Adoption Agency has counselors working in the Savannah area and handles both Georgia adoptions and international
adoptions from several countries.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Agencies: Domestic: Public
The
Adopting
in Georgia page (maintained by the Division of Family and
Children Services of Georgia's Department of Human Resources)
is a good place to start learning about public agency adoption opportunities in Georgia. Its FAQ
page, though sometimes slow to load, has answers to a lot of questions you will have about public adoption in Georgia. Remember
too that all of the costs of these adoptions are usually covered by federal or state adoption
assistance, and a monthly support check may be provided as well. One of the best sites around to explain this hideously
complex benefit is maintained by the North American Council on Adoptable
Children. They have a great summary of the Georgia procedure on their Georgia
profile page.
The Office of Adoptions (part of Georgia's Department
of Human Resources) page also collects a lot of valuable references on public adoption in Georgia. [Most of the information
on this page is good as far as it goes, but be aware that it has not be updated recently, and aspects of it are out-of-date.
For example, it refers to the Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting (MAPP) training for foster and adoptive parents.
MAPP has been replaced by a program called "IMPACT" --- (I) Initial Interest, (M) Mutual selection, (P) Pre-service training,
(A) Assessment, (C) Continuing develoment, (T) Teamwork.]
Georgia's First Lady, Mary Perdue, is very interested in
children's issues (the Perdues have served as foster parents), and Georgia's official web site includes the First
Lady's Our Children Campaign site, which links to many sources of information about public adoption in Georgia.
Lutheran Services of Georgia's programs that partner with the Georgia
Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) offer a good option for public domestic adoption. As with DFCS adoptions,
the costs and fees of adopting through these LSG programs will often be covered by federal adoption
assistance benefits. The Savannah location is: 6555 Abercorn Street, Suite 117, Savannah, Georgia 31405, Phone: 912-353-8875,
Fax: 912-356-5057.
Since 1981, the Down Syndrome Association
of Greater Cincinnati’s Adoption Awareness Program has helped with domestic adoption of children with Down syndrome
(close to Mr. Bull’s heart --- he and his wife have a "home-grown" daughter with Down syndrome!). Roughly 90% of children
diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are aborted, but this one site has some 200 families on their waiting list with
completed home studies waiting to adopt children with Down syndrome. They help genetic counselors, social workers, birth
families, and families interested in adoption. They are at 644 Linn Street, Suite 1128, Cincinnati OH 45203-1734, 513-761-5400,
Toll Free: 1-888-796-5504, fax: 513-761-5401. Their general e-mail address is dsagc@dsagc.com, or e-mail Robin for specific info on Down syndrome
adoption at: rsteele@zoomtown.com.
Reece’s Rainbow is another great resource that helps with international
adoption of children with Down syndrome. This Georgia ministry offers a great deal of financial and other assistance
on an area of great need.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Agencies: International
This
newish federal site (launched 11/17/08) has oodles of
info on international adoption. (It doesn't work well with all browsers, but it seems to be the best site around for international
adoption --- a subject that can get very confusing very quickly.) To see whether a country is a member of the Hague Convention,
go here. (The Hague Convention is another topic that can
be endlessly confusing, but this site seems to offer much-needed help in this area.)
AdoptAChild.org
is a great place to research a large number of international adoption agencies. Their Inter-Country Adoption Registry and
Message Board allow adoptive parents to post their actual experiences with international adoption.
America
World Adoption Association is a nationwide Christian agency handling international adoptions whose home page features
an endorsement from Stephen Curtis Chapman, a well-known champion of adoption.
Alliance
for Children has a strong focus on international adoption, though it handles domestic as well. They have an office in
Charleston, SC.
Children's Hope International is a well-established name
in international adoption.
Holt International is one of the oldest and
most reputable international adoption agencies, dating back to the 1950's and grounded in Christian commitment.
Intercountry Adoption Center, Inc. is a Florida agency that handles Guatemalan
adoptions for residents anywhere in the U.S. (They work with several other countries, but they only serve Florida residents
as to those countries.) We have had clients who were very pleased with Intercountry's willingness to go the extra mile on
their Guatemalan adoption.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Adoption "Networkers"
Adoption Information Services, Inc. A number of our clients have found
it worth the extra fee to use a "networker" to help them find an available child, either directly or with an agency that fits
their preferences. (This is over and above any agency fee, but it avoids being "locked in" with any one agency.) They have
adoption-related connections nationwide (and sometimes internationally), and they also help "market" pre-adoptive parents
to agencies and birth parents. Ms. Marcia Barker, 770-339-7236, the Executive Director of AIS,
has many years of experience working in the field. E-mail Ms. Barker at AISMarcia@comcast.net.
Adoption
Advice and Guidance is another adoption networker we have gotten good client recommendations on. Contact Gloria Hawk
at 770-638-0350. Her e-mail address is AAGGloria@aol.com.
Adoption Advisors is based in South Carolina, but helps people all over, including
special expertise with helping Canadian families. Adoption networker Jeanna Smith, 864-439-8879, can be e-mailed at jeanna@adoptionadvisors.org. Ms. Smith is a former associate of Marcia Barker's,
now working in Spartanburg. Tell her we said "Hello"! Ms. Smith's husband, Michael, also helps hopeful adoptive parents
with their adoption profiles via his Crossroad Designs website.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE
PARENTS: Facilitation Services
[Note: "Facilitation" really just
means 'helping you do-it-yourself' --- "self service" instead of "full service." Not a bad thing --- if you know enough about
what you're doing. Facilitators are not usually governmentally regulated, there's no guarantee you'll get your money's worth
from them, and in the past, many have been disreputable. And even good, honest facilitators may use practices that are common
in other states, but illegal in states like Georgia. In Georgia, facilitators cannot advertise. So Georgians working with
facilitators will probably be involved in interstate adoptions. If they want to finalize their adoption in Georgia, it is
a crime for them to pay a birth mother's living expenses. And yet in states where this practice is common, facilitators
may have promised such payments to their birth mothers.
Having said all that, in our experience the ones linked
below do a very good job of putting birth parents in contact with pre-adoptive parents so otherwise independent adoptions
can occur, and they do help arrange the additional services that are or may be required. But be sure to get knowledgeable
legal advice in both states.
There are also some true agencies that are able to work in a similar fashion. For
example, the Independent Adoption Center is an adoption agency, fully licensed in
Georgia and other states, that provides more comprehensive service than the Internet-based facilitators listed below, while
still emphasizing birth and pre-adoptive parents choosing each other.
These kinds of "choose each other"
services are probably the wave of the future. With the Internet being what it is, and open adoption becoming more and more
prevalent, nation-wide, Internet-based matching of birth parents and pre-adoptive parents --- allowing them to choose each
other according to each's designated preferences --- will sooner or later be the most common way for adoptions to get started.]
The
Adoption Network Law Center is a large, Internet meeting place for
those seeking matches, catering to all sorts of preferences. It also has a great website with a lot of helpful information.
The
Lifetime Adoption Facilitation Center is also a large online meeting place for
seeking matches that tends more toward Christian preferences. Their site is great too, with bushels of help and info, and
their front page shows some impressive endorsements.
Parent Profiles is
another place offering this type of service. We don't have much personal experience with this site, but it is part of the
Adoption.com megaplex of interconnected websites too, so it is well-known.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE
PARENTS: Photo Listings
AdoptUSKids.org:
Another federal site with an extensive photo listing of waiting children, most of whom have some special need (which, in
the world of adoption, could just mean that they are minorities, over the age of two, or sibling groups, but it also includes
physical, mental, or emotional problems).
Adopting.com's
listing is mostly international kids.
Adoption.com's listing and search
page.
The National Adoption Center has this page of
links to a number of photo listings.
Precious In His Sight has an extensive photolisting,
again mainly international, but some domestic kids. There's a listing for AdoptNeed.com
there too!
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Financial Help / Taxes / Social Security
Financial
Help:
Here too, there's no better starting point in looking for financial help than ShaohannahsHope.Org,
the adoption-assistance foundation and website started by singer Stephen Curtis Chapman and his wife, Mary Beth. This site,
and the resources it links to, contain an abundance of helpful, adoption-related advice and assistance that will help you
adopt much more easily than you would have thought possible --- financially, emotionally, and spiritually. It is outstanding.
Grants & Financial Help:
This site has one of the best, most comprehensive compilations of available financial assistance for adoption anywhere on
the Net! Be sure to look around on it!
This online
article from Adoptive Families magazine may help brainstorm some ideas and
fund raising strategies, too. It gives several stories about how specific families raised funds, and readers have added a
number of helpful comments at the end, too. (The last comment is a "cautionary" warning that illustrates the shortcomings
that must be dealt with in working with the public adoption system and child protective services. It can be frustrating:
Remember your last visit to the DMV --- they all work for the same employer!)
Worth mentioning again is the Lutheran
Services of Georgia Heritage Adoption Program, which waives ALL agency fees. And a great deal of grant assistance with
international adoption of children with Down syndrome is available at Reece’s Rainbow,
and especially in adopting older such children from abroad: Older Child
Prayer List and Grant Fund.
Adopting a child through Georgia's DFCS (Department of Family and Children Services)
system is also usually covered by federal adoption
assistance. See DFCS’s Adopting
in Georgia page for general information, and the adoption
assistance page to learn how the costs of DFCS adoptions are usually covered by federal or state benefits, and the monthly
support check that may be provided for those children as well.
Another comprehensive explanation of the hideously complex
Title IV-e federal adoption assistance benefit is given by the North
American Council on Adoptable Children. They have a great summary of the Georgia procedure on their Georgia
profile page. And if you are (or should be) a lawyer, dig into this manual
provided by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a subdivision
of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. If you can't find the answer to your
question in one of those places, there probably isn't an answer to it! (With a federal government program, this is
entirely possible. Also, if you phone a bureaucrat to ask your question, you'll probably get a different answer each time
you call. That's been my experience, anyway!)
The Cradle of
Hope adoption agency also has a good listing of financing options.
The Dave
Thomas Foundation for Adoption is one of many foundations offering grants for adoption.
Tax Benefits:
IRS Form 8839 on Qualified Adoption Expenses is a downloadable PDF form
for claiming the tax benefits available to adoptive parents. The instructions
for the form are also available. For most cases (not stepparent adoptions), there is a dollar-for-dollar tax CREDIT,
not just a deduction, for adoption expenses up to over $12,000.
Currently, there is a website with a downloadable "free"
"course" on how to qualify for the tax credit,
but we don't know how good it is, or how much help it would really be. It may be great, or it may be little more than an
Internet "on-ramp" for the agency that set it up.
IRS Form W-7A
is a relatively recent tax provision to apply for an Adoption Tax Identification Number ("ATIN"). This is for the small number
of families who will need to claim the adopted child as a dependent, but the child has no Social Security number, and the
family cannot get one soon enough after the adoption to claim the child as a dependent. (Instructions come with the downloadable
form.) The instructions for the Form indicate that only children placed by a licensed adoption agency are elgible for this,
but our office can assist you even with an independent adoption.
Social Security:
The Application for a Social Security Card is downloadable, and
comes with instructions on what they need to issue a new Social Security number or amend existing records. It frequently
says they "MAY" accept certain things for an adopted child, so it's best to call ahead and make an appointment with a specific
person before going to the office. The trouble is that adoption is an unusual case for the Social Security office, but they
don't like admitting that. We used to have a reliable contact at the Savannah office, but she now claims that "everyone"
in the office is equally knowledgeable and able to help. Our clients have NOT found that to be the case. Your best bet
is to call and make an appointment with someone truly familiar with adoption. The Savannah office, 912-353-7059, is at
430 Mall Boulevard, Savannah, Georgia 31406, just east of Hodgson-Memorial Drive. The online Social Security office locator
is here, and this
purports to be the "New Rules For Getting A Social Security Number And Card". (These "Rules" seem to suggest that you
have to get the amended birth certificate before you can get a new social security card. Some of our clients have had
to wait for the amended birth certificate, others have not. In other words, the answers to your questions may depend on which
bureaucrat you're talking to.)
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Home Studies
Locally
in Savannah and the surrounding counties, Trisha Barrett has long been one of the busiest home study providers. She has lots of experience and
knowledge in the field. If you need a home study as part of your independent or international adoption plan, Ms. Barrett
has done many of those. She can best be reached at 912-220-9779. Ms. Barrett is affiliated with several adoption agencies,
and if you work with her, your home study will actually be issued under the license of one of those agencies. Among others,
she works for Cradle of Love adoption agency, based in Atlanta, 800-219-8254 [e-mail Cradle of Love]; and Options 4 Adoption, 770-928-1871 [e-mail Options 4 Adoption]. Ms. Barrett is also a Family Support Specialist for the
neonatal intensive care unit ("NICU") at Memorial hospital; her number there is 912-350-7186.
Another possibility in
the Savannah area is contacting Families First. They are based in
Atlanta, but they operate statewide and can arrange for a worker to do a home study for you. Call them at 404-853-2800, or
e-mail the helpful Ruth Neill
there! Their Savannah home study contract worker is Holly Wade, 912-657-9746, or 912-819-6170.
Adoption.com's
internet megaplex also provides a home study referral service at Homestudies.com.
Other
than Ms. Barrett, home study providers in the Savannah area have come and gone quickly in recent years, but our office tries
to keep up with the local possibilities.
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PRE-ADOPTIVE PARENTS: Embryo Adoption
Snowflakes Embryo Adoption Program. Here's something a little different that you may
want to consider: Adopting a frozen embryo for your own implantation and gestation. There are thousands of orphaned frozen
embryos in this country. Some clinics offer them to couples whose infertility does not preclude gestation, but this California-based
program wisely treats the matter as more like an adoption than an infertility treatment. President George W. Bush voiced
support for Snowflakes' work in this area. Definitely worth a look for those who are eligible and interested.
The
National Embryo Donation Center is another Christian site for adoption of frozen
embryos, endorsed by the Christian Medical Association.
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