Urgent need for a home for a baby in Ohio

I received this this morning and my heart aches for this unborn child. I asked, and was granted permission to post this to my blog. I'm praying someone out there will be able to bring this baby home when he is born...God can do miraculous things when we step out in faith!

Baby Boy in Ohio

There is a baby boy here in the greater Cincinnati area who is due to be born on December 6 and is in need of a home. The agency which contacted us about his case is one that we have not worked with before, and we do not know anything about their requirements or typical mode of operation. This boy has been diagnosed with Neurofibromatosis Type I (NF-1), a genetic condition that causes, among other things, non-cancerous tumors to grow on the skin. According to the geneticist being consulted on this boy’s behalf, the manifestations of the disorder vary greatly, and so nothing definite can be known until after he has been born.

This condition is hereditary, and he contracted it from his birth mother, who is now thirty-one years old. She developed benign brain tumors when she was thirteen, one of which was removed. The others were left and have not grown since they were discovered. In choosing an adoptive family for this baby, she would like to have a partially open adoption. Specifically, her desire is to have pictures and letters from the parents, and maybe one visit each year, depending on the location of the adoptive family.

The agency handling this case has decided to discount their fees, which is keeping the adoption costs rather low. If the adoptive family lives in Ohio and within about an hour of Cincinnati, the total cost—including agency fees, social worker fees, and post-placement reports—would be $3,800. (These fees do not include attorney fees, which the adopting family will be responsible for.) If the adoptive family is from Ohio but not close enough to Cincinnati for the placing agency to handle the post-placement reports, the fees would be $3,000, not including those post-placement reports—which would need to be done by another agency—and attorney fees. Finally, families from another state would pay $3,500 to cover the agency fees, social worker fees, and ICPC requirements, but another agency in their state of residence would have to be engaged for the post-placement reports; and again, attorney fees associated with the adoption at their end will be the responsibility of the adoptive family. (Please keep in mind that these fees are set by the placing agency, not by The Shepherd’s Crook, and so the actual fees are subject to the discretion of the agency.)

Because this boy is expected to be born in early December, the agency can only consider families who already have a completed home study. If you would like additional information about this boy as you prayerfully contemplate adopting him, then please write to nf-boy-info@theshepherdscrook.org. Thank you for your prayers on his behalf.

In Christ,
Greg
Administrative Assistant