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Maybe a Baby?

Navigating the Infant Adoption Maze

By Kelly Burgess

Katherine Hutzel of St. Louis, Mo., was holding her infant son in her arms in about nine months – the same amount of time it would have taken if she'd had a biological child. She admits she was surprised because she's heard so many tales of adoptive parents waiting for years.

"When we decided to adopt after going through infertility treatments, we sat down with the agency and explained where we were and what we wanted to do and that we wanted an infant," Hutzel says. "I know many people who have had to wait a long time, but we completed the paperwork in March and had Maddox at the beginning of August. I was shocked because I had assumed it would be so difficult. I know so many other people who have done domestic adoption and it has taken a long time, but not only did we get our baby very quickly, I got a call from the agency not long ago letting me know that there were other babies available and asking if I was interested."

What she thinks really improved her chances was that she was more open to a bi-racial child. What didn't help her was the fact that she lives in Missouri. Because the law there requires that an infant spend its first six weeks to three months in a foster care situation, she could not receive a newborn. Instead, Hutzel adopted from Florida, where a newborn baby can go directly to the adoptive parent.

"We got the call to come to Florida just a day before he was born, so we had to pack up and leave," Hutzel says. "Then we spent about two weeks in Florida because we couldn't take him over the state lines until the paperwork went through in the capital."

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