Starting over again

Well, after talking with my agency yesterday, I think we are probably not going to use them for a private adoption. First of all, they only place 10-15 babies per year. And they said the wait could be up to two years. Not acceptable. They also seem to charge an awful lot of money and don't provide much in exchange - they don't advertise or aggresively find birth parents to match with adoptive families.

So, we're kind of back to square one. This is very frustrating and overhwhelming, and I had a major meltdown last night just thinking about it. Thank G-d for sweet husbands and a good dose of puppy love. But I did find an independent social worker who says she can do a homestudy for us in 2-3 weeks, for $600. Sounds almost too good to be true, doesn't it? I am trying to figure out how to check her credentials, because if she's valid then this is a great deal and we'll just get it done. This way we are not tied to an agency if we find an independent situation.

I also learned of a situation with a birth mother in California yesterday. The baby is a girl, due at the end of the month, and is Filipino. The mother was healthy during her pregnancy and had excellent prenatal care. The father is a married man and wants nothing to do with her or the baby, and her family is supportive of her adoption plan, so it sounds like a great match for us. We are trying to get a profile together to send to her and see if she chooses us or not. If she does, we can use our independent homestudy and save a ton of money. There is also the possibility of using our HSM homestudy for a designated adoption. They are checking to see if we could finish it by the end of the month, and what the fees are for designated adoption.