Hey There!
It’s been a while
since we posted, so we’ve decided to put together an FAQ post. There are a lot
of questions in this post that are difficult to answer for one reason or
another, so we are going to answer them to the best of our knowledge. If we
miss something you are curious about, please feel free to comment on this post
or contact us directly. Some of these questions were addressed in our first
post so forgive us for the repetition, but we can promise there is a lot of new
information here.
Can we share this post/tell others that you
want to adopt?
The short
answer YES! Please do! :)
The long
answer: Please feel free to share our blog posts on social media or with anyone
who you feel might be interested in our journey. We covet prayers for our
process, and word of mouth (or technology as it may be) is one of our biggest
tools for prayer and finding our forever family, but we’ll share more about that
later.
What made you
consider adoption?
I, Laura
Beth, am adopted. My parents did a great job at making this fact a positive one
in my life. As I got older and started thinking about marriage and my future
life, adoption was always something I saw as part of that. Before Mike and I
got married we discussed adoption and both agreed it was something we were open
to and wanted to pursue. When we reached the time in our marriage where we felt
we wanted to grow our family, we found through time and tests that our option
to have biological children would be through intensive fertility treatments. So
we took a little time to pray and discuss our options and during that time we
felt God calling us to pursue adoption. We couldn’t be more excited!
Why did you choose
private adoption vs agency adoption?
We feel like
private adoption is the direction God is calling us at this time. We are not
opposed to agency adoption down the road if we feel God calling us in that
direction.
What is the cost of
Private Adoption?
The price
of an independent, or private, adoption is not set in stone as much as an
agency adoption or adoption from Foster Care might be. There are many factors
that go into determining the price, such as what state the child is being
adopted from (travel costs, additional attorney cost, and any unknown state
costs), medical expenses related to the child (as determined by the attorney)
and anything else that comes up that we don’t know about yet :) . The best estimate that we’ve been given for
private (independent) adoption is in the range of $3,500-$14,000 give or take.
Are you pursuing
domestic or international?
We are
currently pursing domestic adoption.
Do you have any
Adoption Preferences (i.e. gender, race/ethnicity, special needs)?
This is a
question you see on all of the adoption paperwork you could ever find to fill out
and almost everyone we have told about our desire to adopt has asked this in
some form or fashion. Since it is such a common question, we thought we’d
address the parts separately. We’ll start with the short and sweet answer for
the straight forward people (ahem…Mike) and then elaborate for the people more
like me. :)
Gender: Absolutely
no preference whatsoever.
Race/Ethnicity: Nope!
This question could be a little more difficult to decide on since there are
several factors that go into this decision. A couple of factors being how would
we approach raising a child of a different race/ethnicity and the challenges
and questions we might face when they are young and they might face as they
grow.
Special Needs: No and
Yes… While we are not pursuing adopting a child with special needs,
specifically, we feel like God has a child/children for us and He will help
equip us for that child. We will prayerfully consider any opportunity and we
have faith that God will make clear what our decision should be.
What age child(ren)
are you wanting to adopt?
We are
primarily seeking infant adoption but we are open to whatever possibilities God
places in our path. This includes siblings, as well.
What kind of relationship
do you want with the Biological parent(s)? (i.e. open/semi-open/closed)?
We are open
to any relationship we come to an agreement with the birth mom/parents about. Research
shows the benefits for having an open or at least semi-open adoption with the
birth mom/parents, although from personal experience we have seen that a closed
adoption can turn out well, too.
How will you find a
child / How can family, friends, others help us find a child to love?
Our main
resource is word of mouth. In the state of Texas it is not legal to
independently advertise that you want to adopt a child. So basically we are
telling anyone and everyone we can about our desire to adopt and hoping we will
be put in contact with a birth mom who chooses to make an adoption plan for her
child. And yes it can be done! My parents were connected with me through a truck
driver they met randomly one evening. :) So keep
your ears open, and please feel free to share.
What is the timeline
for bringing home a child?
Anywhere
from 2 days to infinity, haha. A child is legally able to be taken home as soon
as 48 hours after birth. The adoption is finalized at about the 6 month mark
after the initial papers are signed. So our timeline is determined by when we
find or are found by a birth mom who wishes to make an adoption plan.
How can we pray for
you?
Our strongest
desire is prayer for everyone involved in this process: the birth parents,
their families, the child, attorney, home study caseworker, our families, and
any others that may become involved. Other prayers would include God placing a
child in our lives, the means to complete the adoption, and for Mike and I to
have patience and the ability to discern Gods direction during this process.
Thank you, as always, for reading our blog! We promise they won’t always be this long ;).
With love,
Mike and LB Compton
