B.,
My husband and I have a story similar to yours, however we have successfully adopted 2 wonderful children. We opted to go through the Children and Families First organization in Wilmington, DE. This agency required educational training and home studies and we met both of our children before the home studies were completed. Our first child was 2 mths old and parental rights had already been terminated. Our 2nd child was 11 mths old and had been in Foster Care since age 6 wks.
You may want to contact Children and Families First to see if they have an agency in Philadelphia.
It turns out that one of my son's good friends was also adopted and in talking w/ his mom I learned she went thru the same agency.
All the best to you. Children are a blessing from God and require much love and patience. But, oh the feeling you get when you see them grow and blossom - it's indescribable!!!