Adopting an Infant – We Need Your Help

Who are we and why are we asking for your help?

We have been happily married for 11 years. Only two years after getting married, James and I decided to put off having children "until we get through college," as we grieved over a miscarriage. Little did we know that the future held so much diffiulty for us in this area.

A couple of years after graduating with our Bachelors Degrees in Education together (this was so fun!), we decided to enter into a graduate program together so that we would each earn a Master's Degree in Special Education (Emotional/Behavior Disorders & Learning Disabilities specialties). We figured this move would make us more secure in our future together. For the year preceeding our entrance into the graduate program and throughout the first year of the program, we decided to start trying for a baby again, figuring that life just couldn't wait anymore.

After about six months of trying, Tori felt like something was wrong and decided to see a specialist. Sure enough, after being poked and tested several times over, we came to find out that Tori has PCOS, or Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Which, in Tori's case (because different women with this problem have varying symptoms), means that her eggs basically develop into cycsts in her ovaries and do not travel down the fallopian tubes for implantation. We also found out that there were medicinal treatments for the syndrome so we decided to try them...and nothing worked. Eventually, we moved on to shots (very painful and frustrating since James had to give the shots to Tori)...and then we tried, unsuccessfully, getting an IUI (Intrauterine Insemination). It didn't work either, so all of this just brought us to the point of utter frustration. We layed low for a little while after that, trying to conceive the old fashioned way, but it just never happened.

Currently, we are each working on completing our thesis as Tori works as a Special Education high school-level teacher and James works as a Special Education teacher in a children's treatment facility. We have owned our home for two years now and are just now starting to truly enjoy a calmer life outside of college classes (and hopefully, within the year, we'll complete our theses and graduate together with our Master's Degrees!). James and I also have a puppy, 17-month-old Flower, who is so sweet and just loves playing with her "big brother,” a fat cat named Pumpkin, and her forever mom and dad. She will also love playing with our new family addition!

So...what happens now?

After a lot of soul-searching and prayer, we have decided to look into adoption. We realized that God must have another plan for us than what we thought when we first got married, and we just needed to open our hearts to his guidance. After James's go-ahead, Tori found an adoption agency (New Life Family Services) that specializes in domestic newborn adoptions, and we both fell in love with the agency's beliefs, community ties, avenues of support (for us and the birth parents), and even the cost (most agencies fees are much higher than this). The fees to get us to the end of the adoption process through NLFS is as follows:

 

• $50 - Pre-Application Informational Meeting (DONE!)


• $500 Application Fee (Covered!)


• $1,000 (+$140 for background checks) Program Service Fee - due with signed contract, upon acceptance as clients and before the start of the home study process


• $3,000 Adoption Study Fee - due upon the home study approval


• $5,000 (+$750 if interim care is needed for the birth parent) - due once we have been chosen by a birth mother/family


• $2,500 Placement Services - due after the "legal risk" period has passed


• $2,500 Post-Placement, Post-Adoption Services (required by state law) - due once the chid is in our home and we can finalize all legal documents

As you can calculate, this leaves us with $14, 890 left in fees that will be due sporadically throughout this upcoming year. If you are able to help us out, we will be ETERNALLY thankful for your support and donation...and you will forever be in our prayers.

Final Thoughts

Thank you so much for your time and interest in helping a child find a forever loving home...and for helping us become parents. Even if you cannot, or choose to not, help us with funding, we ask that you please pray for the birth mother of our future child, as well as for us as we work through this exciting journey of adoption together. Be blessed!

FYI: Our personal home page is currently a work in progress. We will update it as we can, so keep checking back to see our adoption progress. Thanks!

You can email us at [email protected]