Our information seminar was today so I thought I would post an update. The seminar was brilliant, it gave us an insight into what current needs were in each country and locally, quotas, requirements, problems that children might have from different countries, and obviously how the process works. We have decided that we are going to start the local adoption process, with a view to intercountry adoption from South Korea or Ethiopia if IVF and local adoption are unsuccessful.
I think one of the main factors that has encouraged us to continue down the adoption path is that there is a trend in WA for more local adoptions - they are currently doing 8-10 local babies a year, compared to 2 or 3 in recent times. (Apparently a high % is due to international students in Perth!)
As we are a young married couple, financially stable, church going, tertiary educated etc - we meet a lot of the criteria that birth parents state in their preferences (IN WA birth parents help pick adoptive parents) which could mean a faster placement, but you never really have that guarantee.
So the next step is that we need to attend two more seminars, one on Preparation for Adoptive parenting and one on seperation and attachment in adoption. (There is a 3rd on ICA if we go down that path). Unfortunately they are $300 each seminar so just need to scrape together the money (not easy when on your 9th ivf attempt!!!!) Then assessment seminar, then you have your assessment interviews (min 6 interviews @ 2 hours each!)
For the moment we are happy to pursue both ivf and adoption. We spoke to the social worker at the seminar and they are quite happy for us to continue ivf, and actually encouraged it. If we were to fall pregnant, we would remain in the adoption list as we would be quite happy to have a second child through adoption in addition to a natural child.
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks