LDS Family Services Changes

I have had a million and one people ask me what is happening since LDS Family Services announced that they are getting rid of their adoption services. I wanted to make sure that I had all of the information, and I don't like repeating myself a hundred times, so I'm writing it here. Sorry it's a little late in coming.

I really want this shirt!!

First of all, is it inconvenient the LDSFS is no longer facilitating adoptions, YES! Does it mean that if you can't afford a $25,000-$50,000+ adoption fees through a private agency that you can never adopt, NO!!!

So here is basically how it works:

1. LDSFS is no longer facilitating all of the legal stuff for adoptive families. This means that in order to adopt you have to have someone else do the home study, background checks, etc. How do you do that? Well, you can contact your local LDSFS and they should be able to direct you to a good lawyer or private social worker that can help facilitate it for you. Or you can research what the laws are in the state that you live in to find out how to do it on your own.
2. Once you have all of your home study stuff done you can go to LDSFS in your area, turn in the paperwork you have, get a letter of recommendation from your bishop and show that you are married and sealed in the temple, and wala! You're done, and can be put on a new website they are putting together.
3. This new website will be FREE (it will start up in January). All of the women that LDSFS work with that decide they want to place for adoption will be directed to this website. It also is a national website that other agencies and people use. That means that you have a better chance of being chosen by a birth mother for adoption if you choose to just go through this website.
4. If you've been chosen you then find a lawyer that can help with all of the adoption paperwork and post-placement visits.
5. This legitimately can be cheaper than it currently is to adopt through LDS Family Services. Adoption feeds, depending on who you hire, can be cheaper than what LDSFS charges. The only problem is if you need to pay for medical expenses of the birth mother. Here's a hint, any woman that is pregnant can apply for medicaid and will be covered during her pregnancy and up to (I think) 90 days after she has had the baby if she qualifies. That helps A LOT, and is something LDSFS was already doing for birth mothers. Seriously, even if you don't think she'd qualify, help her apply!!

Here is the thing. I realize that this means a lot more leg work and headache for adopting families. You have to be a wise consumer, know the questions to ask, and inform yourself to what is available in the community that can help you. LDSFS in your area should be able to give you information on what sort of questions to ask and give you lists of what is available in the community.

The reason this happened is because LDSFS wants to provide better services to birth moms. LDSFS also does not have the number of birth moms coming in wanting to place for adoption as they do adopting families. You have a 1 in 3 chance currently through LDSFS to have a child placed with you in a year. They have around 600 actively adopting families on their website, and work with about 200 birth moms a year that want to place for adoption. Not good chances. This also went up to the First Presidency of the LDS Church. I'm a social worker, so in that circle I heard about this coming down close to 6 years ago, and by then they had been talking about it for awhile. The First Presidency wouldn't let it happen until they knew it was right, and they went through a lot of plans to make sure that it was right.

So for us particularly this means that it is business as usual for now. We just finished our home study and are waiting on final approval (probably will have it before the end of the month), and then we are good to go! We'll work within their current system, and if a birth mother picks us before the end of December then LDSFS will facilitate the whole thing through their old system. If we aren't picked before then, then we'll probably find an adoption lawyer to help us, go on the new adoption website, and decide if we want to find a private agency to work through. LDSFS in American Fork is having a resource night to let families know more about what is available out there to help them, and we will be there! I also have friends that I can ask, so if you don't know anyone I might be able to point you to someone if you ask nicely :).

The bottom line to all of this is that this is what we have to do if we want to have children. We do! And when I went to one of the community meetings explaining about the changes I had the clear impression from the Spirit that this is the right thing, and that it is going in the right direction. It will work out the way it is suppose to, and as scary as it kinda is, we know that we'll be able to be parents some way, some day. 

We're being patient, and trying to have faith. It will all work out!

If you have other questions you can totally ask me and I'll try to answer them to the best of my ability or point you to someone that knows more. I can send you the letter the Commissioner of LDSFS sent us to tell us about the changes. I can also pass on more information about good questions to ask a birth family and agencies in the Utah area if you'd like (I hope to have those soon). 

This is one of my favorite quotes...