- M
- D
- J
Dearest family and friends,
After starting our adoption journey over a year ago and gearing up to launch our fundraising campaign in March, we were blindsided (like many of you) by COVID-19. With the world now finding itself in this difficult situation, we heavily contemplated if now was the right time to start an adoption fundraiser. Over the last couple of months, we have weighed our options, taken into consideration our home study's one-year expiration, and reflected upon feedback from our community. It is with great joy we have decided to move forward with our plans. We feel that just by getting the word out we will generate good energy around our situation and at least give our loved ones a chance to share in this exciting news (we’ve been dying to tell you). We're diving into this full-force with open hearts and knowing we will find a way to bring our baby Moon Panda home. We also hope to encourage others to adopt by offering support and sharing our experience. Thank you for taking the time to read about our story.
What do you get when you combine a MoonDrop and a Trash Panda? Moon Panda was coined as a symbol of our love, and what we’ve chosen to call our child until they/she/he arrives.
Our Journey
Natural conception was our original plan, and after a couple of unsuccessful years we decided to get checked out and make sure everything was working. Without going into detail, preliminary testing found it would be nearly impossible, and potentially risky to conceive “naturally”. Adoption has always been on the table as well as something we both support, love and respect, and because DNA does not define a family, we knew this was the right choice to both grow our family and be a positive force in the world.
Seeking professional legal advice is where we started. With a family member’s recommendation (thank you, Andre and Jess) we found a wonderful Austin adoption attorney, Christine Henry Andresen. Christine agreed to set up a pre-adoption consultation. We were walking into a life-changing situation with no experience and clueless about where to begin, and were looking for some guidance. Christine was very informative and told us the different ways to adopt-- through a private adoption agency, the foster care system, or international adoption. International adoption called to us both, but with the current political climate, it is nearly impossible to obtain citizenship for an internationally adopted child. After further research we decided to go with private adoption through an agency, but also attend an orientation at a local shelter to learn what foster-to-adopt looked like. Basically we wanted to open all the doors. Over the last 6 months, we have completed the private adoption homestudy, the first step to any adoption, and are enrolled in SAFE’s Foster and Adopt program.
Once we are matched with a birth mother, the adoption agency has told us to be prepared to spend $50,000 to $55,000 on the adoption. This includes the homestudy, legal and administrative fees, as well as the birth mother’s medical and essential expenses during her pregnancy. Although going through the foster care system will likely be less expensive upfront, it is far less straightforward and can require indefinite custody battles through the court system. There are many factors contributing to this big decision. Our first hope is to match with a birth mother through the agency and adopt an infant. However neither of us are ruling out fostering, as either a second option or possibly a second child :)
We have set a goal of $30,000 to help with the financial burden of the private adoption or to help with the legal fees and other support of a foster-to-adopt child. If you are able to contribute anything at all, we would appreciate it more than words can express. We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as they/she/he grows up. We completely understand if a financial contribution is not possible at this time, and strongly believe that your love and good energy are just as valuable to us on this journey, and we know you all have those in spades :)
We will be sending updates as things progress, and are making stickers, shirts and other swag to say thank you to everyone that is able to contribute. Stay safe out there as we start to emerge out of the shelter-in-place.
Big love,
Jeremiah, Jamie & Arnie
After starting our adoption journey over a year ago and gearing up to launch our fundraising campaign in March, we were blindsided (like many of you) by COVID-19. With the world now finding itself in this difficult situation, we heavily contemplated if now was the right time to start an adoption fundraiser. Over the last couple of months, we have weighed our options, taken into consideration our home study's one-year expiration, and reflected upon feedback from our community. It is with great joy we have decided to move forward with our plans. We feel that just by getting the word out we will generate good energy around our situation and at least give our loved ones a chance to share in this exciting news (we’ve been dying to tell you). We're diving into this full-force with open hearts and knowing we will find a way to bring our baby Moon Panda home. We also hope to encourage others to adopt by offering support and sharing our experience. Thank you for taking the time to read about our story.
What do you get when you combine a MoonDrop and a Trash Panda? Moon Panda was coined as a symbol of our love, and what we’ve chosen to call our child until they/she/he arrives.
Our Journey
Natural conception was our original plan, and after a couple of unsuccessful years we decided to get checked out and make sure everything was working. Without going into detail, preliminary testing found it would be nearly impossible, and potentially risky to conceive “naturally”. Adoption has always been on the table as well as something we both support, love and respect, and because DNA does not define a family, we knew this was the right choice to both grow our family and be a positive force in the world.
Seeking professional legal advice is where we started. With a family member’s recommendation (thank you, Andre and Jess) we found a wonderful Austin adoption attorney, Christine Henry Andresen. Christine agreed to set up a pre-adoption consultation. We were walking into a life-changing situation with no experience and clueless about where to begin, and were looking for some guidance. Christine was very informative and told us the different ways to adopt-- through a private adoption agency, the foster care system, or international adoption. International adoption called to us both, but with the current political climate, it is nearly impossible to obtain citizenship for an internationally adopted child. After further research we decided to go with private adoption through an agency, but also attend an orientation at a local shelter to learn what foster-to-adopt looked like. Basically we wanted to open all the doors. Over the last 6 months, we have completed the private adoption homestudy, the first step to any adoption, and are enrolled in SAFE’s Foster and Adopt program.
Once we are matched with a birth mother, the adoption agency has told us to be prepared to spend $50,000 to $55,000 on the adoption. This includes the homestudy, legal and administrative fees, as well as the birth mother’s medical and essential expenses during her pregnancy. Although going through the foster care system will likely be less expensive upfront, it is far less straightforward and can require indefinite custody battles through the court system. There are many factors contributing to this big decision. Our first hope is to match with a birth mother through the agency and adopt an infant. However neither of us are ruling out fostering, as either a second option or possibly a second child :)
We have set a goal of $30,000 to help with the financial burden of the private adoption or to help with the legal fees and other support of a foster-to-adopt child. If you are able to contribute anything at all, we would appreciate it more than words can express. We hope that by inviting you into this process, you will see yourself as part of the community we hope to build around our child as they/she/he grows up. We completely understand if a financial contribution is not possible at this time, and strongly believe that your love and good energy are just as valuable to us on this journey, and we know you all have those in spades :)
We will be sending updates as things progress, and are making stickers, shirts and other swag to say thank you to everyone that is able to contribute. Stay safe out there as we start to emerge out of the shelter-in-place.
Big love,
Jeremiah, Jamie & Arnie
Organiser and beneficiary
Jeremiah Bal
Beneficiary