This month we met with two agencies. We really liked the first agency we met with, but they couldn’t start our process for the homestudy until July and we really didn’t want to wait that long. But, we really appreciated the amount of support they gave to both adoptive and birthparents. These were two aspects we didn’t feel the first adoption agency had.
Then, we met with Bethany Christian Services (http://www.bethany.org/indiana). We attended their general adoption meeting where they discussed all of the different adoption methods they offered (domestic, intercountry, embryo, and foster care). At this point we had already decided we wanted to adopt domestically because we really wanted the infant experience. But, it was nice to get some more information about the process. We really liked Bethany’s support system and we appreciated that they could begin our process almost immediately. We found out that day that the next domestic adoption meeting was the following Tuesday. So, we RSVP’d for that meeting.
We filled out the initial paperwork and went to the domestic adoption meeting that following Tuesday. After finding out more information, we definitely knew this was the agency for us.
The following week we started filling out the application and answering the questions for the autobiography. Because Chip was out of town, it took us a few weeks to get all of the paperwork complete, but eventually we did and sent it off to Bethany for approval on April 6, 2009.