Amber and Travis Austin's Page

you are foster first..so most of that can transfer over to the adoption unit-it should not take long but if you are due for an update you basically have to do the ospi backgound (not fingerprints) and medicals, you do not have to do the classes over. The adoption parties are a lot of fun..mostly older and sibling groups because those are the ones harder to place..maybe i will see you at one ;) i think the next one coming up is august for teens, then there i will be tulsas in october, and okc in February and stillwater in may or april i am not sure. they will send you info and if you want to go then you call your worker. As for the photo listing..there is a book but usually they are so outdated. What usually happens is everymonth your worker goes to a staffing in Norman and all the children that are looking for a home are presented to every SWIFT worker in the state. Your worker has a list of what you are looking for..age, gender, sibling..you will probably have more specifics on what you do not want but for the most part the only thing your worker will look at is those 3...i hated presenting a child with very specific needs and getting home studies that state the adoptive parent did not want those specific needs. The worker will then submit your home study to the childs worker who will them weedout all the profils to find their top 3. Your worker will also send you a letter explaining your homestudy was submitted for x amount of kids and they will give you the staffing list (blacked out) so that if you see a child you can also request homestudy be sent..ok so if a worker picks you..the state has to approve to proceed, then you are given the profile to look through, you will also meet with a developmental specialist depending on age and you can decide if you want to proceed, then visits happen and them placement,

Right now we are in a waiting game. Our next court hearing is in August, and if everything is taken care of by then, we will finalize our adoption of our little guy at that time. It is AMAZING how long it takes for them to do a little paperwork. We had court in Feb. where birth mom signed away her rights with the intent for us to adopt, and they STILL haven't let us know anything, really. We had to re-do physicals and fill our some stuff, but that was it. Our old home study was still good, I guess. I really have no clue what is supposed to happen when you don't actually foster the kid(s) first. I wish I could give you more input.
As for keeping busy, I have no problem there with 4 little ones right now. Our oldest is almost 5, and it is kinda crazy around here. Long story of how I ended up with 4 kids age 4 and under. :)
Are you guys in the OKC metro too?

hello..nice to meet ya. I am fixing to finalize on my two i adopted from OKDHS i also work for DHS and let me tell ya i did not have an easy time about it. if you need any advise about what to expect just let me know..

Nice to "meet" ya! We have adopted 2 girls through OKDHS, and are in the process of adopting their little brother. We also have a 20 month-old foster baby girl right now. We have been doing foster care since summer of 2006, and still learn new things all the time. :)