No matter which option you choose (except International) it is helpful to network and tell everyone you know that you want to adopt. Many successful adoptions come though word of mouth, a friend of a friend. Some adoptive families build web pages. I can help you with that. Kay@preciouskids.org Some families have business cards and color photo profiles to hand out to prospective people. Use your imagination! When we decided to adopt I told everyone I knew. I had photo profiles made to send out. I built a web page with our photos and a dear birth mom letter. We were listed on the registry at http://www.preciouskids.org/adopt/registry.html That is where our daughter's birth mom found us. We talked online for a month or so until she chose us. Then we had an agency in her state handle her counseling and legal work. Her doctor sent her medical records to our pediatrician. We talked on the phone lots over the next 8 weeks. I prepared to breastfeed our baby. (See my article on adoptive breastfeeding) I had our lawyer handle the legal work for finalization. We started looking in July 1999. She found us in November 1999 and chose us in December. Haley was born in March 2000. Our total costs including travel and our homestudy was $4000. We were able to receive all $4000 back in the form of a tax credit. Networking is really the best way to find a baby. There are a number of online registries. Check out http://www.adoption.com and http://www.abcadoptions.com I suggest joining as many as possible. You can also list your web page in all the search engines. Joining some adoption groups at http://www.yahoogroups.com is helpful. Tell your local doctor, high school counselor, friends, and family that you want to adopt. Some families have success placing ads online and in newspapers. Here are some of my yahoo groups:
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