Details, Details

When people ask where we are adopting from, they seem as shocked as I did to hear that you can adopt from the state. Generally, the next question is always "How does that work?" or "Is that really expensive?" Today, I hope to tackle both questions.

Bryan and I had been planning to adopt from China, when we decided to go to an informational seminar hosted by the Department of Social Services. We were well aware that DSS is responsible for Foster Care having dealt with a handful of foster children through school and church. However, we thought that the adoption info would just be general info. My thinking was that any info was more than we had and would be helpful.

Here in Williamston, we live on the corner of three counties (Anderson, Greenville, and Pickens) with 3 other counties within 30-45 minutes of us. One of the men from DSS was talking about the need for foster parents and adoptive families in our area. In our three county area, there were at least 600 children currently in custody and only about 140 families. The state tries not to put more than 3 children in a home, but many had 5 and 6.

As we sat there listening to the gentleman explain what they do and the need for families, Bryan broke down. Now, this is not surprising to most people, but there was much more to it this time. (Our friends and family know, that Bryan has a huge heart, and is extremely sensitive). It got to the point that he had to excuse himself and leave the room. When we got in the car to leave, he told me that it hit him really hard that adoption is a picture of what Christ did for us. What he didn't know, is that this same realization hit me several years before. I was in my car listening to Focus on the Family one afternoon when God overwhelmed me with that realization. I had never shared that with him, because I felt confident that God would bring him to that point in His own time. Of course, He did a much better job than I ever could have.

So, how does this process work? First you start with a lengthy paperwork process. There is something like 20 or 30 pages of paperwork to fill out. You turn parts of it in as you go to start your background check. When your background check and fingerprints come back, you have to attend an orientation and 2 day training session. The training session is tough! They talk about all the reasons why children come into custody of the state. (In 2003 1604 children entered foster care in SC. 59% of those were due to neglect. 33% were due to abuse.) It was tough to hear all the horrible things that many of these children deal with.

After this, we had home inspections by the fire marshal and DHEC. Then it was time for the home study. We met twice with a lady that interviewed us. This was fairly long and really personal. She then wrote up a report about us and submitted it to the state. We received a letter in the mail saying that we had been approved and now we are simply waiting on placement.

When we do get a child, we may be considered foster parents until all the legal work is completed to terminate the parents rights. At that point we will wait for a court date to finalize the adoption.

Now for the $$$ question... Because our child will be in the custody of the state, the state will pay the majority of the fees for us. We were told to expect to pay only a few hundred dollars. That is right a few hundred. Seeing that there are 1600 children in the SC foster care system available for adoption, you can't afford not to!