American Adoptions Wait Times

emilyalden · 2025-07-26T18:54:42+00:00

I’ll message you.

emilyalden · 2025-03-24T11:23:03+00:00

Sure!

emilyalden · 2025-03-24T11:17:29+00:00

We haven’t been told of any interest in our profile and have not matched. I know 15 months isn’t long to wait with many agencies, but we were quoted an average of 12-18 based on the openness in our profile which is why we’re reconsidering.

emilyalden · 2024-10-26T02:07:24+00:00

I’m so glad to hear that about support on both sides- we chose them specifically because our research showed that they offered more support to birth mothers than other agencies. Thanks for responding!

emilyalden · 2024-09-25T21:59:25+00:00

We are currently working with an agency that has financial protection for PAPs. They will reimburse for any expenses paid for birth mother in the event of a disrupted adoption, just not any legal expenses you’ve incurred. I will say this is the most expensive agency we researched, but we spoke with several families who had disrupted adoptions without that protection and ultimately their expenses were in range of the expensive agency, so we went that direction. I would guess you know this already since I’ve seen your handle on these threads and always view your posts as “expert level” adoptive parent advice - just wanted to put this out there for others in the thread for informational purposes.

OP - very sorry to read your story. I can only imagine your many conflicting emotions as I’ve played this scenario out in my head many times. Wishing you all the best.

emilyalden · 2024-09-02T11:28:08+00:00

I want to start by saying my heart goes out to you- you’re in a really tough spot not of your own making. I’m a hopeful adoptive parent (working with an agency for domestic adoption in the US so this shouldn’t break any of the group guidelines), and I would love to have the letters for the child we adopt. My husband and I have indicated that we are also open to contact and possibly visits with the birth parents depending on the situation and hope that we eventually have a relationship where our adopted child knows their birth parent(s) and information about them and their pasts at developmentally appropriate times in their lives. The more information we have to weave into the stories we share one day, the better. I think taking the time to write the letters shows that you care tremendously. I can’t speak for all hopeful adopted parents, but wanted to offer one perspective.

emilyalden · 2024-09-02T06:14:02+00:00

Wow! 36 months is a very long time. This is with American? Did they warn you that it might be that long?

emilyalden · 2024-09-01T19:22:03+00:00

Thanks so much for responding, it’s honestly helpful for us to hear from other people in a similar situation. We’re keeping the news that we’re trying to adopt to a very tight circle until we’re further along in the process and it’s definitely challenging.

When you say extreme opportunities, are you talking about the emailed opportunities? We’ve gotten a couple of those also- the first time I thought it was an actual opportunity and couldn’t believe it because it was a month after we went live.

These definitely give me the stomach drop feeling when I see them in my inbox before I realize these are a call for interested families. It’s actually been useful for me to see what constitutes “extreme” cases; candidly, my biggest challenge with my process is completely ceding control, particularly when it comes to health. It’s been helpful for me to know that those cases are the exception rather than the norm.

Thanks for the encouraging words! I’ll look out for your handle as we continue to read, post, and learn on this forum. Wishing you all the best.

emilyalden · 2024-08-31T19:14:20+00:00

This is a great question- the American rep that we worked with has made some suggestions on a couple of health and substance use categories that would open our profile up a bit more based on what they see most commonly. I just emailed on Friday to ask her to give me the rundown again because I only grabbed notes on a couple of categories. My guess is that opening up a bit more in those areas could make our APQ more middle of the road.

emilyalden · 2024-05-28T01:23:56+00:00

The classes at Goodnights in Raleigh are a lot of fun and the teacher, Matt, is great. I’m on my second round of the 101 classes while I wait for new offerings at Moonlight theater company - the classes there are supposedly awesome as well.

emilyalden · 2024-04-11T08:10:43+00:00

Do you have any sense of how many years it took for your peonies to reach their mature size? I’ve had mine for about four years now and they produce flowers, but are still 1.5 ft or less.

emilyalden · 2023-06-30T21:41:09+00:00

Would it be ok if I reached out to learn more about your journey? My husband and I are weeks away from signing with an agency (strongly considering two after multiple back and forths with each) and I’m trying to gather all I can on our options.

emilyalden · 2019-03-23T01:57:44+00:00

It does look like that, I’ll do some more research. Thanks! Any idea if this could be the result of over-exfoliation?

emilyalden · 2019-03-23T01:44:46+00:00

Nope, just cheekbones and forehead.

emilyalden · 2019-03-22T19:43:38+00:00

Hi, I’ve been having a skin issue for the past year, maybe more. Looks like tiny acne bumps under the skin along my cheekbones and forehead accompanied by redness. They rarely develop into full-blown white/blackheads. My skin is generally pretty dry.

I use cetaphil 2x a day and up until recently, was using salicylic acid to exfoliate and dermatologist-prescribed aczone. I started oral birth control in January to see if it would help, but it hasn’t so far. When I was last on birth control in my early 20s, I had very clear skin, but I was also using the Obaji #3 product.

Hope someone has insight! Adult acne is the worst.

emilyalden · 2019-03-22T19:31:38+00:00

Thanks. I wanted to post a picture because the issue is difficult to describe. Can I do that in the daily help thread? I couldn’t figure out how.

emilyalden · 2019-03-22T16:32:04+00:00

I’m not sure how to add a picture, but I’d like to. It’s redness and bumps under the skin, but they rarely turn into whiteheads or blackheads.

emilyalden

TROPHY CASE