I didn't find an adoption thread so I thought I would post here.

My 12 year old daughter is adopted. We've had her since she was 6 months old. We used to be foster parents and didn't intend to adopt any of them, however, the courts took so long to finalize Jennifer's case that she was 5 1/2 years old by the time they got through. We were the only family she knew and by then my whole family was in love with her so we had to keep her. She's like an only child with 3 daddys. My sons are 21 and 24.

Jennifer has fetal alcohol effects. When she was a baby we thought she was retarded. She just laid there. She had no muscle tone and didn't walk until she was 18 months old. Physical therapists came out and worked with her to help her learn to walk. She's always been behind in motor skills and maturity. Her mind is sharp as a tack. She can remember names and numbers better than any of my family. She has to use an alpha smart (sort of like a small laptop) at school because no one can read her hand writing. She was making poor grades in first grade on her spelling tests and I went to the school and talked to her teacher. I told her I couldn't understand why Jennifer was flunking her spelling tests. We would go over them the morning before her test and she knew them all. Her teacher started giving her the test verbally and discovered Jennifer in fact knew her spelling words.

Sorry this is so long but I just wanted to tell someone about our miracle baby. Many of the children in America have been ruined by drugs and alcohol abuse and the court system takes too long to sever the parent's rights. The only reason Jennifer is where she is today is because she wasn't in a typical foster home full to capacity. (we only took a couple of children at a time) and we gave her the love and attention she needed. When that happens those children are usually kept by the foster parents instead of going for adoption. I know of one family who has adopted four children and they had three of their own.

We need to change the court system so that these babies aren't left in the system until they are older and less adoptable.

Laurel