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linlacor

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Hi everyone - I have a question about the application. On the reference page, it asks for the name of a rabbi or clergy. We don't have one in our new area yet. Should we leave that area blank? Will that really hurt our chances to adopt? (There is a church we want to start attending, but it would be insincere to start going right now because we need to fill in a line on the application!)

Teena,

The best thing to do is be honest. We do not currently belong to a church in our area and put n/a because that is the truth for us at this time. This does not mean we won't belong to a church in the future, but at this time we do not. We were invited to orientation, so I assume our answer did not hurt us.

Cathy

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Hi everyone - I have a question about the application. On the reference page, it asks for the name of a rabbi or clergy. We don't have one in our new area yet. Should we leave that area blank? Will that really hurt our chances to adopt? (There is a church we want to start attending, but it would be insincere to start going right now because we need to fill in a line on the application!)

Teena,

The best thing to do is be honest. We do not currently belong to a church in our area and put n/a because that is the truth for us at this time. This does not mean we won't belong to a church in the future, but at this time we do not. We were invited to orientation, so I assume our answer did not hurt us.

Cathy

Thanks, Cathy. I can only be 100% honest in my answers and it's good to know that lack of a church family at the moment won't hurt our chances to be invited to orientation.

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Speaking professionally: being a private agency, Abrazo does not mandate that church membership be a prerequisite for admission; just write in "pending" if it is, and "not applicable" if it isn't.

Speaking personally: I think finding a church that can support you throughout your psychological pregnancy and adoption process makes Placement Day a blessing to be celebrated with even more folks who care about you... and I know that being a member of a loving church family has been an enormous source of inspiration and support for me in my own parenting journey. ;)

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Speaking professionally: Speaking personally:

Thank you, Elizabeth, for both of your comments (professionally and personally).

Cathy

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Hi everyone - I have a question about the application. On the reference page, it asks for the name of a rabbi or clergy. We don't have one in our new area yet. Should we leave that area blank? Will that really hurt our chances to adopt? (There is a church we want to start attending, but it would be insincere to start going right now because we need to fill in a line on the application!)

If you have an old one (pastor/minister/priest/rabbi....) that would be able to give a form of personal reference, you could use that as well. Sometimes a simple move across a big city might have you relocate churches.

Just a thought.

-A

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  • 8 months later...

Nothing's been said on this thread in a while, but maybe someone can answer this question here....

About how long should we expect to wait to hear from Abrazo after sending in our application? The initial inquiry says 2-4 weeks, but there isn't a wait time listed on the application. (Unless I missed it!) Just wondering. I do better when I know just how long I'll be on pins & needles ;)

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Nothing's been said on this thread in a while, but maybe someone can answer this question here....

About how long should we expect to wait to hear from Abrazo after sending in our application? The initial inquiry says 2-4 weeks, but there isn't a wait time listed on the application. (Unless I missed it!) Just wondering. I do better when I know just how long I'll be on pins & needles ;)

Welcome AshG -- It is great to meet you over the Forum and welcome to the Abrazo community!

To help answer your question, I would say it all depends. My sense is that there is no set time and it all depends on the needs Abrazo has or foresees at the time your application arrives on their desk. You may hear quickly if you fit what they are looking for right now, or it may take longer if they are waiting to see how other matches or placements unfold. Life at Abrazo is in a constant state of motion so one never knows what can happen on any given day. All I can say is that it will happen when the time is right, and when it is meant to be...

Good Luck! Everyone on the Forum is here for you on your journey ahead!

Susan

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and BTW- there was a huge fire and 1000's of pcs of mail headed to San Antonio were lost...I might call Angela to verify that they received the application.

Good luck

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Thanks for the reply, Susan. That's kind of what I had imagined to be the case. I meant to ask another question before....The application's wording led me to think that there is a sort of "acceptance" into their program that's decided after the application is reviewed. Should we expect to hear something more about that soon, even if we aren't invited to the next orientation? I know the orientations invites are based largely on possible cases that are in the works, so we are prepared to wait for that. I guess I'm just wondering if this is an "indefinite wait" or a "yes we can work with you but it might be a few months" kind of wait.

Okay, sorry to ramble on here! We're really not in a HUGE rush, but we know we have some things on our end we could take care of (updating homestudy from our first adoption, etc, etc) and it would be nice to figure out some kind of timetable.

ps. Heidi--I did read that story about the fire! Thankfully, we used FedEx so that we could track it. That was something we were required to do with our first process. We have our own account! :lol:

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Welcome...if I remember, I think it was 2 weeks + before we heard a response on inquiry/application. Give them a shout.

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We too sent in our application a week ago, Fedex. We are waiting to hear something also. I figured it will take a few weeks. I think I read the next orientation is in the middle of May. We are just keeping our fingers crossed and prayers. But, we know God has a plan for us. We are very excited and nervous at the same time. It is a wonderful feeling to see light in the tunnel after the years of infertility. After reading the Forum(I'm Hooked) daily, I can see how busy the Abrazo chicks are and quickly things can happen. So I can only imagine their daily work schedule. Maybe we will be in the same orientation group as AshG. We look forward to our journey ahead of us and to meeting wonderful new friends.

Tracey

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The way I understand it is that you should recieve an invitation to the next orientation weekend (or whichever one you indicated a preference for) and you aren't fully accepted into the program until you complete orientation weekend. I'm not positive what the time frame is for recieving an invitation to the orientation so I'm not sure why I'm responding to this because I haven't provided much helpful information....But...I can congratulate you guys for starting your adoption journey and can't wait to hear more in the near future. :)

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Yes, AshG, I believe that Laurie is right -- Abrazo does not fully accept applicants into the program until after you complete an orientation weekend. So the next step after submitting an application is waiting to hear about being invited to an orientation.

Good Luck! Susan

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Also, you might want to talk to Angela before you go through the trouble and expense of updating your homestudy. Texas law has a requirement that it be updated within 30 days of placement, so it might be better to wait. I don't know all the details, but Angela will! Best, Kay

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Thanks for all the information. Hope everyone has a good Monday.

Tracey

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Welcome, newbies! :)

Our full-service placement program has a three-step application process (inquiry, application, orientation) and all three steps must be completed before a formal acceptance letter is issued (inviting you to officially commit to the program within 10 days of receipt.)

Abrazo is a child-centered placement program, meaning that the children we serve are considered our "primary client" and our acceptance decisions are made accordingly. We can only accept folks for orientation in accordance with our placement resource needs, so about a month before each orientation Angela begins the process of assessing what kinds of families we are most in need of, for the kinds of children we most anticipate placing in the 6-12 months to follow.

Generally speaking, our greatest need is always for families with the most open racial and age requirements (since agencies rarely ever run out of families seeking Anglo-only or Anglo-Hispanic newborns?!)

We consistently need more childless couples than folks with children, because most prospective birthparents prefer for their baby to be the "firstborn." That's why we are regrettably limited as to the number of already-parenting applicants we can accept each year (except for those who are racially-flexible, see above.)

And we have to ensure that the applicants we accept are truly comfortable with and committed to openness (or are genuinely motivated to learn to be.) Because we firmly believe that home environments that are accepting of birthparents and truthful with children about all aspects of their origins are most healthy for adopted kids.

We appreciate your interest in Abrazo, and hope your needs may be compatible with ours! If you have any questions, feel free to contact Angela to confirm that your application has been received; she'll gladly give you honest feedback, about what to expect-- and when!? ;)

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hey again,

We got our application sent off on Saturday. What a crazy week we had with trying to get our application sent in and Friday we got dumped on with 10+ inches of snow. Earlier in the week, since I am a volunteer fireman, I was called to a 5 alarm fire at a farmplace. Almost all of the buildings burned down. We managed to save the house though. The rest of the week I was getting ready for finals in school and getting ready for a foosball tournament that I played in this last week. I got second place. I'd have to say that I did enjoy getting the application ready and sent out. We are looking forward to hearing back about our application.

Mark

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  • 2 weeks later...

MOOOOM!! :o

My application is taunting me!!!!! :P:P:P

Okay so there in my computer room (let's call it an office so we sound classier) is my application folder. All filled out. Everything done. All the checkmarks checked. And the end of May is going by SLOOOWER and slower (though I always feel busy and rushed....why is that?) Soooo it waits....everything but a few signatures & a stamp, but it's nice to think I'm done with the first part. We are still trying to decide on if we are going to orientation (we are doing the promesa program so it's optional), I REALLY want to but the next one isn't until July...and then it's only for childless couples so who knows.

Funny...my dh and I were looking at baby pictures and videos of Cooper...he turned to me and went "Okay now I want another one...I'm getting excited." LOL Of course he already told me he wanted another one a while ago after we talked about it but he likes to pretend he's not as excited as me....but he is! Men...I swear I can see right through him :ph34r: !

So who else is waiting & sending thier application right now?

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We are still trying to decide on if we are going to orientation (we are doing the promesa program so it's optional), I REALLY want to but the next one isn't until July...and then it's only for childless couples so who knows.

So why not send that application in and join us for orientation next weekend!?! You'll be in good company, with four other already-parenting couples, and we're just 5 hours down Interstate 35! Come on down! You'll be glad you did! ;)

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We are still trying to decide on if we are going to orientation (we are doing the promesa program so it's optional), I REALLY want to but the next one isn't until July...and then it's only for childless couples so who knows.

So why not send that application in and join us for orientation next weekend!?! You'll be in good company, with four other already-parenting couples, and we're just 5 hours down Interstate 35! Come on down! You'll be glad you did! ;)

LOL You better bet your bottom I would but I am waiting for my stinkin 25th Birthday May 31. Who'd of ever thought that I couldn't WAIT to be older?? So I have 22 days (give and take ha ha) to send this puppy in.

Of course, my friends my take that long to send in thier letters! (HA, just kidding, hopefully).

Natalie

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You better bet your bottom I would but I am waiting for my stinkin 25th Birthday May 31. Who'd of ever thought that I couldn't WAIT to be older?? So I have 22 days (give and take ha ha) to send this puppy in.

With the power vested in me by Abrazo's Board of Directors, I will officially waive the agency's requirement that you be 25 years of age in order to submit your application, if it means we have a young couple with your wisdom and grace to add to our special needs program in the ten day file activation period following your attendance at next weekend's orientation!! How's that for being flexible to the needs of our clientele? ;)

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