All The Agencies Are The Same

I realize I've been a bad blogger. I'm averaging 3 posts per month. People want to know what is going on and they check in, only to read the same post that's been hanging out there for weeks on end. Part of the reason for this is that I have no news on the adoption front. Nothing new is happening. I talked to my friend A, and she said that she and J are experiencing a similar amount of nothing.

I got a little antsy and called four other adoption agencies to get an idea if what I am experiencing is normal. They all gave me the same story. There aren't very many kids available for adoption. There are lots of families who have been waiting much longer than we have. The age range we're looking for is highly desired. There aren't many young children in the system because it takes 18 months to sever the parental rights, so by the time they are available to be adopted, they're out of the toddler years. 80% of kids in the system are over age nine.

You always hear about the thousands of Arizona kids who are waiting for a good home. Those statistics are referring to kids who need FOSTER placement. There are lots and lots of kids who are living in shelters, group homes, and crisis centers, waiting for placement in foster homes and not enough foster families to go around. In reality, at any given time there are about 50 children available for adoption. I asked the person who gave me this statistic how many waiting families are in the database. She said that she didn't know, but their agency alone has 80 families. There are probably 20 or so agencies. I know our agency is busy certifying new families at a rate of 5 to 10 every other month.

Well, the last few posts have certainly not been too cheery. I guess I've been a bit down these last few days. Maybe it's the Clomid. Messing around with female hormones can't be good. I have to go for a second blood draw on Thursday to finish up this diagnostic test and then meet with the doctor on July 9th.

On another topic, we tore apart the house on Sunday in a massive home remodeling project completion effort. Two minor projects- painting the living room ceiling, and installing a pocket door in Dave's office have left the place in complete chaos and disarray. Yesterday I was an hour and a half late for work because I couldn't find my car keys. The ceiling is finished now- Dave just put the final touches on it. So we should be back to some semblance of normal by the weekend.