Possibly adopting soon!!!

[The Rook]

Hey all, just wanted to share that me and the misses have been trying to adopt for a while with no success. Then out of the blue we hear of a little guy (almost 10) that's just 15 minutes from our house that's available....long story short.....we went to Dept. of Human Services to findout more and meet his caseworker, foster family, etc, and they brought him with them! After 2 minutes we were ready to take him home with us. Now we are anxiously awaiting things to progress where we can see him again. Anyone familiar with adoption will realize I am skipping 101 things in between but just wanted to make this short. Anyway, anyone else on the forum gone through this??? I'm am just flipping out about FINALLY becoming a Dad!!!!! Hopefully. :fingersx: :seizure:

[MrQuick]

congradulations.Its hard and its a big step but if you can bring happiness to a foster child its worth it.

[vp23271]

Congratulations!

[2yellow69]

Cool man! The wife and I have thought about adopting also. Keep us all updated.

Matt

[Chad-1stGen]

So almost 10 = 10 years old?

[bigvegan]

No advice, but I wish you the best of luck!

[The Rook]

Thanks for the support all. Yup, 10 years old. We've tried the newborn adoption thing and it ended horribly so we started looking into children in Foster Care about 6 months ago. So far, he's been one of the few with out major emotional problems or history of abuse. He has Juvenile Diabetes and his parents were too low functioning to take care of him. He is doing really well in school, has no history of abuse or emotional issues (other than the normal 10 year old with no parents issues) and is just an awesome little kid. I am sooooo pumped up I can barely take it...... Thanks again all.

[Chad-1stGen]

Well good luck :)

[qwik1320]

Best of luck Rook - it's a struggle somedays but being a parent is definitely worth it!

[62LS1]

My wife and I have been through it. We have two biological kids, one out of college that got married this past summer, and one finishing high school, heading to Texas A&M in the fall. We are both in good health and felt we had a lot to offer as 'experienced' parents. My wife looked on the different adoption websites and we inquired on lots of different kids. We too were looking for someone between 6-12 years old, good health, no major abuse, etc. We wound up going to a Valentine's Party sponsored by CPS (Child Protective Serv), where we met a number of eligible kids. One we liked a great deal, so we applied to have CPS start the proceedings. Obviously, this is a very short description of all the hoops that need to be jumped through, but it turned out we were also her favorite prospective parents.

We started the visits and a few months later, she moved into our home. It was her third home/school in a 2-month period, when she moved in, so thankfully she makes friends quickly, but everybody worked hard to get her to us before school ended last year. She spent the summer with us as a foster child, then we were able to legally adopt after she spent 6+ months in the home. She turned 13 within a week of the adoption, so many thought we were nuts to adopt a 'teenager', especially a girl, but she has been, and is a real blessing. As with everything, there is a drastic learning curve, but we love her to death. We're so glad we went through all the hassles of foster parent classes, putting fire ext. on the wall in the house, etc. as it has been well worth the effort. We'd do it again in a heartbeat.

We also found out well after the fact that there are tax advantages to adopting too. I won't go into all the details, and it won't finance the project car, but they are substantial. I say this as obviously it had no effect on us, as we didn't even know about tax advantages until well after the fact, but I'm still in the process of filing my return and Turbo-Tax allows for the adoption, but you better get good advice on how it works, otherwise Turbo-tax only wants to allow for out-of-pocket expenses.

Good luck, and it's real hard to not get your hopes too high, but remember there's lots of 'red-tape' in the adoption process and the government is very involved.

[shmoov69]

Congrats man! Sounds like you got one that doesn't have a ton of abuse and "problems". Not saying at all that they don't need real parents, (heck they need real love more than any of them!), but kids that have been sexually abused (which is a TON) carry alot of mental issues that will show up in your life rather quickly. I applaud you on your want to help others! God WILL bless you for this! You may be dragged thru the mud first! LOL! But stay strong!

[CarlC]

I hope very soon that you will hear the greatest word ever.

Dad.

Good luck.

[rob07002]

Best of luck, Rook! I've always thought it takes someone/couple very special to adopt beyond infant age.

I hope you and him are sharing moments very soon.

[The Rook]

Thanks for all the kind words. I'd rather hear my son laughing at how slow our bone stock 350 is, than the sound of a new twin turbo LS2 any day!!!!!

62LS1 - you're right, you could type a book about everything that happens from start to finish in this process. Also thanks for the other tips and I think it's awesome you guys decided to add to your family even after havin kids of your own.

[The Rook]

I can't wait until he's in our home permanently so I can show him what will be his first car when he turns 16

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/06/100_1449-1.jpg

Okay maybe I better wait on that one....

[6'9"Witha69]

I hope very soon that you will hear the greatest word ever.

Dad.

Good luck.Agreed!!

[6'9"Witha69]

I can't wait until he's in our home permanently so I can show him what will be his first car when he turns 16

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/06/100_1449-1.jpg

Okay maybe I better wait on that one....Yeah, don't scare him off too soon! :lol:

[1968CamaroSS_Sam]

Congratulations. Hope everything turnsout ok for you, your wife and the child. Best wishes.

[67RSSS502]

My much better half and I have been down the path of trying to have a little one, and after a pile of doctor's help we were blessed with our daughter almost a year ago (born May 3/2007). A truly life changing deal I must say, and the best investment of time / money I have ever made.

I wish you and your wife all the best as I for one can tell you how great the little time I have had so far with our daughter has been....

Regards,
Dion
67RSSS502

[The Rook]

Thanks again everyone. I cannot wait to get this little guy started turning wrenches with me in the garage.

67RSSS502 - Ann Arbor huh? Did you guys get a little rain this afternoon too? I had a few 1/4 inch hail hit the windshield doing 70MPH on the way home today. I was ready to hit the floor. I thought I was getting shot at.

[67RSSS502]

a little rain.. that's an understatement! The sky has looked crazy tonight lots of colors / clound formations that remind me of tornado time. The rain was coming down like crazy for a while this afternoon, and the drive home tonight was some fun (love I94 between Michigan Ave and State in the rain, or snow).

Can hardly wait for the snow I heard we are expecting on Sunday... Did someone say that it is spring? I think Mother Nature missed that email!

[go-fish]

I'm glad you aren't adopting Asian or African kids. It pains me to here people spend so much money to adopt overseas kids and there are wonderful kids who are Americans that need love and help.
I have no prejudices with foriegn kids, I just want any dis-affected American kids to know that our society cares about them.

Kudos to you.

[The Rook]

I agree. I saw a stat that there are over 114,000 children in the U.S. that are in foster care and in need of a permanent home/family. We just felt this was they best way to go. We need a family just like they need a family.

[shmoov69]

I'm glad you aren't adopting Asian or African kids. It pains me to here people spend so much money to adopt overseas kids and there are wonderful kids who are Americans that need love and help.
I have no prejudices with foriegn kids, I just want any dis-affected American kids to know that our society cares about them.

Kudos to you.

From what I have heard from some people that I know that have done just that. The reason they adopt from overseas is because it is MUCH easier than adopting from the USA, as F'ed up as that may be! And like I said before, unless you get a baby, usually the older kids are just as F'ed up as their parents were (that's why the kids got taken away to begin with). It sucks in a big way, but that is the way it is IMO.
Again, congrats man!

[Young Gun]

good luck man! thats awsome that your doing this! best of luck...and you better teach that kid how to work a wrench!!!

[bwhinnen]

Congrats on what you are doing, brilliant, it really is. To give one of these kids a good solid home for life! I have to say the first time he calls you Dad will be one of your best memories! The next will be when he tells you he loves you!

[trapin]

Rook, it really touches me that we have such kind hearted people on this website. That is a really great thing that you are doing and I wish you, your wife and your new son all the best in the coming years.

[The Rook]

Thanks again guys. Of course he's going to learn how to turn a wrench soon.....I just hope he can teach me how to weld?!?!?!?!? This is all we can think about. I set up the bunk beds today that were originally my Grandpas, then my Dads, and then mine. It was pretty neat thinking they would get used again. The next few months are going to be full of emotions......I can't wait to take him to the painters to see the progress of the 69 (hopefully he likes Hugger Orange)

[CHRIS67]

Rock - Congrats on the news. I hope everything goes well with the process. It's been 8 years since my wife and I adopted a newborn and you're probably feeling the same nervousness/joy that I was feeling. Keep us posted when you have the baby home.

[The Rook]

We get to have an unsupervised visit with the little guy tomorrow for three hours.....I am so nervous and excited it's crazy. I'll let you guys know how it goes. It's almost 1:30 and not even close to sleeping.....

[2yellow69]

Very cool. The wife and I hope all goes well!

Matt

[The Rook]

Today was one of the best days of my life. We had the little guy for about 4 hours. We took him to our house, hung out for a while talking and getting to know each other, and then got out my old RC cars. We had a blast. Then we had to take him back.....we considered a mad dash to Canada for a few minutes but level heads prevailed.....that was tough. As we were leaving our house he said "So how soon do youthink it will be until I can come back?" We will get him for the whole day next Saturday, and work our way to overnight visits. Woooo Hooooooooo for us!!!!

[tony byram]

Congradulations! You will have more fun than a barrell of monkeys! My wife and I have a now 16 year old daughter. Life has been wonderful, shes so darn SMART (straight As) as well as on the whos who of High school honor students. Mom & Dad are really proud of our girl, as you can probably tell by now! LOL You and wife are blessed, as you soon will find out. And yes just because shes a girl, she can still wrench on my Big Block 72 Z/28, shes can even rebuild and set a Holley carb! Have fun and enjoy the new addition! Tony (And by the way Im adopted too!) Our daughter was only a few minutes old when my fe and I got to hold her so we were truly blessed, she owns a 2005 Monte Carlo were planning to fix up, but shes wants a 56 Chevy, what a girl!

[Young Gun]

congrats!!! thats awsome! glad to hear its going well!

[The Rook]

Real quick update. We have had "our son" living with us for the last 10 days.....IT IS AWESOME, but what a lifestyle change. We picked him up a couple Saturdays ago for a full day visit and hasnt left since!!!! It's wonderful. It is moving extremely fast. He can stay with us for 10 days at a time until he gets placed full time, which should be sometime in June. Life is awesome, so I have NO time to surf the net right now to talk cars....Oh well.....I'll keep updating as time permits. Oh yea, my painter called today and said he should be spraying color in a week. I gotta play the lotto!

[shmoov69]

Congrats dude! Hope all goes well!

[Alan66ss]

Congrats on the potential adoption. The wife and I adopted 3.5 years ago from Russia. We thought about in country but i is a real pain in the butt. I would not trade him for the world. I still remember the first time I saw him. So good luck on your new journey in life.

Alan

[BossaNova]

Tell him it's a rat rod.


I can't wait until he's in our home permanently so I can show him what will be his first car when he turns 16

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2007/06/100_1449-1.jpg

Okay maybe I better wait on that one....

[The Rook]

Here's a long over due update. Our son was officially placed with us on June 5th and we are currently in the 6 month supervisory period before everything is official and final. Things have been going great....we've been spoiling the crap out of this little guy. We're doing all the normal family things he's never had before (or us for that matter). We went up north and he caught his first fish, played in his first baseball league, spends all day every day in the pool with his new friends in the neighborhead, seeing every movie that's come out this summer, and so on. Oh yea, we've been buying a few fun stuff for him too. He brought two outfits, a pair of shoes, a book bag and a winter coat with him when he moved in.....we've had a little shopping to do lately. It's been a blast. We havent worked on the cars yet (ones in paint prison and the other is in the back corner of the garage behind the 10 years of teaching stuff my wife brought home when she quit her job). Wait, we did make one performance improvement to "His" 79, we painted a 7 in a circle on the fender for "Mach 7" after we saw Speed Racer" Okay, gotta go the Tigers are making a come back and I'm missing out on the high fives.

[Larry Callahan]

Very cool and congrats!

[Young Gun]

congrats! thats awesome! get him wrenching on that thing soon!

[shmoov69]

AWESOME!! I have been meaning to ask what the status was. I'm glad all is well in your house!

[cudaman]

God bless.

[67 ls1 vert]

I just saw this post and it makes me look back at what we went through. Very exciting at the least. I cant believe what these kids go through without a family to look up to. When my wife and I saw our son for the first time (age 10) we knew we had to have him. We did the same thing. First visit was to Mc D's for a lil lunch and play time on the play gym. The next time we went to Boomer's (pizza, games, and min. golf) and he went craaaaaazy!!! He has never been to a place like that before. This poor kid has never played sports or gone to a amusement park, Zoo, ball game, river, had a bike... I can go and on. My wife and I started to cry when we seen how happy he was when he was with us. Never having a father in his life and raised by women and on the streets, in and out of foster homes many times. It was a no brainer for the both of us that we had to adopt him as soon as possible. It took him a little time to get close to me but he did real good with my wife. Just because he was intimidated around men. It didnt take long for him to turn around and now he loves me so much and loves to go every where with me. I cant tell you how this make me feel. I love him so much and I would do it all over again. He is now 13 and since we met him he has been on two baseball teams (one year I was the manager) and played one year of football. He has done really good with both since he has never thrown a ball or picked up a bat before. Now we work on my 67 Camaro and he loves it and talks about how this car will be his some day. LOL
I can go on and on but I wont. I wish you and your wife the best of luck and hope that the adoptition goes well. :worship:

[go-fish]

Were these American kids? I just think it's a shame that it's so hard to adopt a kid from this country.

[The Rook]

I know what you mean 67 ls1 vert....every little thing we do with/for him he's just shocked. The other day, we were leaving the guitar store with his new mini Fender Strat (my full size guitar was too big) and we got to the car and he said "family hug....I must be the luckiest person in the whole world" Through tears me and the wife said not even close, that would be us. This whole experience has been so wonderful I cannot even describe how happy we all are. We've started planning a family trip to Florida/Disney later this year but we're afraid he's going to pass out when we tell him about it. Thanks again fo rthe kind words guys.....someday soon I'll be back on here posting about cars, but right now this is more fun.

go-fish - yes, ours was an American adoption and yes it is amazing what you have to go through to make this happen. BUT IT'S ALL WORTH IT!!!!!

[Rybar]

Wow Rook, just read this thread and this is awesome news! Me and my wife have been trying to have a natural child for over 3 years with no luck. What a freakin rollercoaster ride it has been. I feel really good for you and your new family and wish you all the best.

[novanutcase]

Congrats! It looks like a match made in heaven! Have fun!

John

[The Rook]

Took the boy to go see the 69 tonight for the very first time. It is ready for paint. It was awesome showing him every little corner and detail on the car. He loved it. He had more questions for the painter than I did. "Are you gonna do this..." "How you gonna do that...." It was soooo fun to watch. I can't wait to get that car back.

[The Rook]

Okay here is a loooooong over due update. As of Friday the 31st........IT'S OFFICIAL!!!!!! Everything is complete, he's our boy (well he has been since the first night he stayed over in April, but you get the point). It has been a whirl wind 6 months to say the least, from getting his Diabetes under control to him getting diagnosed with a seizure disorder (talk about a very scary chain of events) to dealing with PITA adoption agencies.....but it has all been worth it. This kid is so freakin awesome I will never be able to explain it. Anyone that has met him just cant believe how wonderful he is. My wife and I still can't figure out how we were so incredibly lucky to find him. The Lord does indeed perform miracles. Thank you all for the thoughts, prayers and kind words....my wife and I have read them all (even if I didn't respond, I Thank you all). Oh yea, one other minor, insignificant, not a real big deal update.....I'm picking up the Camaro Tuesday night in all it's beautiful, freshly painted, Hugger Orange glory.....It's been almost two years since I dropped it off. Who would have thought I would have to move bikes and skateboards around to make room for it when it returned....I am thinking about changing my user name to "Luckiest Man Alive" but don't want to jinx anything.

[67 ls1 vert]

Thats wonderful!!! Congratulations. I know what you are feeling right now because I went through the same thing. We have had some real challenges to deal with in the past year our selfs. Its all looking better now.

BTW, great news about your car. Now you two need to going on it and build a father and son project together. :cool:

[FULMNTE]

Congratulations!

We adopted two of our foster kids, so I know how you feel...

One of our kids was diagnosed with febrile seizures, i.e. he is prone on getting a seizure when he runs a high fever. Docs said he will grow out of it and he did not have any foe more than one year. Seizures are really SCARY!

[shmoov69]

Screw the Camaro!! Congrats on the kid!!!!!!












Naaaah, congrats on the Camaro too!! LOL!