Dear Friends & Supporters,
We are beginning the process of domestic infant adoption and would love your support in this process. Since Chris was adopted (as an infant from India), we know firsthand the positive impact adoption can have on a child’s life, and have always had it in mind for part of our family building process. We persevered through the adventure that was getting married during the global pandemic and have been trying to start our family for the last couple of years. As we have navigated through infertility issues this past year, the conversation about adopting someday for a second kid shifted to the idea of building our family through adoption now. And since we have not been able to have a baby of our own, at this point in time we strongly desire the experience of raising an infant to experience all those early milestones with them.
If you know Deborah, you know she has always had a heart for kids. She can often be found making silly faces at and entertaining whatever child is in the room and has long dreamed of the day she would have a child of her own. If you know Chris, you know he has been elementary school teacher for almost a decade and is ready to upgrade from uncle status to dad.
It may surprise you that the average cost of domestic infant adoption in the United States can range from 50K to 80K. It certainly was a surprise to us! It is for this reason that we are asking our family, friends, faith community and supporters to consider donating to help ease the financial burden we never anticipated would be involved in building our family.
The fees which adoption agencies collect are so high because they cover:
You can play an integral part in helping us realize our dreams of becoming parents and enable us to provide a loving home for a child in need. We have chosen to use this specific crowdfunding platform so that any donations you choose to make are tax deductible. (You can also give to the foundation via check or charitable giving platform.)
Your love, support, and prayers mean more to us than you know.
Love,
Deborah & Chris
October 2024 Edit: The projected budget for our adoption is higher, since it is a California match, than we were initially prepared for. So we have raised the fundraising threshold.
If you've been in conversation with Chris, you probably have had a sports or political analogy drawn to whatever is the topic of conversation. Well for the adoption process, we are now on the 15-yard line, which in a football game would mean you are close to scoring a touchdown!
We reviewed a draft of our home study last week and sent it back to our social worker for some edits.
We filmed our interviews for our adoptive family video profile and sent the footage off to Show Pro Media who will edit those interviews, B-roll we have filmed, and photos we compiled into a 3-4 minute presentation of us that is the most likely way a birth mother will choose us.
Our last big to-do list item is the more traditional print profile for birth parents to look at as well.
Today we also hung a banner in our living room reading Team Baby Woo-Miller. It has some notes (and coloring) from people who were at our gathering last weekend. We also have added the names of everyone who has so generously given towards our adoption and any notes you sent through this platform. (If you gave your donation anonymously, we don't see the names on our end, so let us know if that's you so we can add you to the banner!)
This banner will be our encouraging reminder as we enter the waiting period of all of you that are cheering us along in this journey.
With much love and gratitude,
Deborah and Chris
Our hearts are full after a fabulous day getting to be showered by love from so many of you! It was great to be able to gather some of our family and friends from so many spheres of life together for a celebration as we are getting close to our adoptive family profile going live. We got lots of great suggestions for baby names, advice both heartfelt and silly, and feel buoyed by a time of getting to pray together as we enter the waiting period of this journey.
This afternoon we also filmed a bunch of B-roll for our Video Profile. Next week we are hoping to film the actual interview clips for the video profile and to send that off to the agency's editing team soon!
Yesterday I (Deborah) had my individual home study interview with our social worker and Chris will have his on Friday. The social worker has read the autobiographies we wrote, so after reading those and the couples interview from his original visit, the individual interviews are tailored by him to help fill in any information he feels like he needs to have a clear picture of who we are, why we are drawn to adoption, and what our support system for our family will be like.
There are a few other paperwork things making their way through the necessary systems, but our home study process is almost complete!
Before we started this journey, I assumed the home study mostly involved a background check and social worker home visits. There have been so many other aspects!
Today we finished autobiographies we needed to write which will be followed with individual convos with the social worker. And we are listening to the 3rd of 4 education courses we need to complete.
Trying our best to keep things moving forward with work feeling very busy as Chris wraps up the school year.
Today we had our in-home visit with our home study social worker. We handed over a lot of paperwork (marriage certificate, financial information, vehicle information, etc.) and he checked that our apartment was safe (or that we know what needs to happen to make it safe) for a baby. Then he asked us questions about our relationship and desire to adopt. We will have two more conversations with him as part of the home study process, and those will be individual interviews. The other large pieces of the home study remaining are some courses we need to take and autobiographies we need to write. The hope is to complete all the elements of the home study by the end of May.
