FAQ
(FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
I’ll add additional questions if I get any that seem appropriate to include.
We have been readied, vetted, and approved for accepting a child at any time. But, for the safety and protection of the child, we’ll need to go through all the proper legal channels, starting with our Adoption Consultant.
HELP, it's urgent, how soon can you take the child!?
Contact the authorities immediately. Do not contact us regarding children in an abusive or life threatening situation or a child living in the street. We can not help in that situation, but you can help by calling the authorities.
What about a child in an abusive, life-threatening situation, or on the streets?
What about international adoption? Have you tried _________ (fill in the blank)?
We appreciate any suggestions and input you have and welcome your input, thank you! Because we are a bit older, we are looking for a committed adoption and have eliminated options that are “chances” that may not work out. Meaning, you can spend a few years seeking international adoption or doing fost-to-adopt (a great program for many), only for the situation to never result in an adoption.
If you feel you have a valuable and specific idea or lead to share, I’d love that! But, in order to keep our email from getting overwhelmed and missing an urgent need, I’d prefer you send ideas through direct messaging via Instagram or Facebook. If you feel your lead is urgent, that might be a case for reaching out through our website. Note that I may not reply to general comments or DMs, especially if there are many, but I will absolutely read them all.
You may ask, “I have an idea you could try, how do I share it with you and Hari?”
Share our information! You’re welcome to start by asking us questions to determine if it’s worth passing our info on. Ultimately, it’s a decision only the legal guardian(s) can make so we’d love you to pass on our information so they can take a look.
I think I know someone…what can I do?
Why CALIFORNIA?
While adopting out of state is possible, the cost dramatically increases. If possible, our preference is use the extra funds on setting the child up for success, verses filling someone else’s pockets. In addition, each state works independently, so we’d then need to be approved in both states.
Why not get an adoption lawyer or pay big money to a specialized agency?
Adoption is a big money grab that doesn’t always put the child first. While many costs are unavoidable, we just want to help a child in need, therefore, we want to avoid unnecessarily filling other people's pockets along the way with money that can be used to set the child up for success.
Contact us first. Social media is too big for us to post someone else’s information without considering the potential impact that could have, so we need to streamline the interested from the curious and go from there.
How do we contact your Adoption Consultant directly?
Hari was adopted as a toddler and I was a toddler in foster care, so we feel called to this particular path. We know the situation comes with added complications, and naturally, the child will face emotional hurdles. We come to the table with personal experience, abundant love, compassion, genuine understanding, and added patience to emotionally support a child in this situation.
Why not an infant? (by far, this is the most asked question.)
Can you adopt a Native American Indian child?
No. The Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) protects native ancestry and this is not an option we would attempt to pursue.
Why Social Media?
We all here about children in need and wish we could help. In reality, a toddler/preschool aged child is difficult to come by outside of the system. Yet, our hope is to prevent a child from having to enter the foster care system. So, when our Adoption Consultant suggested this, we felt it made sense, despite it being outside of our comfort zone.
What do you pray for?
We specifically pray to help a child in need and we pray for the child’s family as well. We don’t pray to ‘start a family’, because that’s a different situation. When you are adopting an infant, you are more likely to think of starting a family. In our case, while we look forward to becoming a family, but our first focus is helping the child. We have all the love and time to give while also being financially able to support the child.
How do we know we can trust you?
We don’t trust strangers and neither should you. To be approved for adoption in the state of California, we were fully and legally vetted through our Adoption Consultant. This means… We filled out endless forms, including detailed finances, provided our housing and employment histories, and our family and childhood histories. We had to get a doctor’s approval, submit our driver’s records. Some of our friends were interviewed. We attended many meetings/interviews, both individually and as a couple. We were fingerprinted to make sure we each had a clean criminal record. We took classes and read hours and hours of study materials. Finally, an Adoption Consultant came to our home to review and validate our living situation and make sure we had a place for a child. There is a lot involved in qualification.
Likewise, for the safety of the child, our Adoption Service Provider will also need to be sure you are the person(s) legally permitted to release the child for adoption. But don’t worry, you don’t need to go through the same process we did.