It's been awhile since I've posted about where we are in the adoption process. That's because we are currently buried under a mountain of paperwork!
In order to adopt you have to have a home study done. Some people think this means that people come and inspect your house since your house is your home. But actually that is not the case. A home study is a study of your home--meaning the home you create by way of your relationships with your spouse and children. They do look around our house to insure we have a place for the child to live--but that's about it! Here is a list of things our home study includes (Note: I'm probably leaving something out!):
-A multiple choice test that will give our caseworker insights into our personalities and how we operate as a couple.
-Written questionnaires about adopting outside of our own race and how we would incorporate a child of color into our home, community and church.
-Our testimonies and how we came to know the Lord as our Personal Savior.
-Financial documentation on how much money we make and where it all goes each month.
-Fingerprints
-Physicals
-Employment Verifications
All of this adds up to a HUGE pile of Paperwork!
Once we submit all of the above we then go thru a series of interviews with our caseworker in which she reviews all of the paperwork we submitted and gains more insight firsthand into our relationships as a family. As long as no concerns are noted our home study is then submitted to the state and we wait...and wait...and wait for them to certify us as adoptive parents.
We are hoping we will be certified by the end of the summer. Then we can be considered a waiting family and have our profile submitted to adoption agencies for birth families to look at. The adoption consultant we are working with currently has had most of her adoptive parents matched in the first few weeks after they have been certified! That's crazy fast in the domestic infant adoption world!
Our profile is a scrapbook of sorts that has pictures and text about our family that is shared with potential birth families (And yes we have to create this too--more to do!). When a Birth Mom makes an adoption plan for her child, agencies encourage them to look through profiles and pick a few adoptive families they would consider placing their child with. We will then be notified if we are picked by a Birth Mom and then plans are made as we work towards the Birth Mom's due date. It is important to note that a Birth Mom
plans to place for adoption. But all
plans can go out the window once baby has arrived. Although no one likes when
plans change, it is a reality that all adoptive parents must face.
In our adoption with Nathan we were not picked by Nathan's Birth Mom. We never met her and she never held Nathan. Nathan is what adoption agencies refer to as a "hospital call". His Birth Mom did not make an adoption plan for him prior to giving birth. Although hospital calls do happen quite often, this is not the norm. In some ways I grieve the fact that we did not get the chance personally to meet Nathan's Birth Mom and thank her for her self-less gift but at the same time I also have some anxiety about the possibility of meeting our next child's Birth Mom. It will be a whole new experience for us as an adoptive family!
In addition to making our way through the home study paperwork we are also filling out paperwork to apply for adoption grants and loans. Unfortunately you can not be considered to receive any grants without a finalized home study but we want to be ready to submit them the moment our home study goes through.
Because we are committed to making this adoption a debt free one, we have also been fundraising like crazy. We have already completed a 31 Bag Fundraiser, a Facebook Silent Auction and have had a yard sale. Several generous people (including a large group of my classroom parents from this past school year) have also made monetary donations towards our adoption fund.
To date we have raised approximately $2300 towards our adoption!
We are currently hosting an Origami Owl Fundraiser online in which we will receive 20% of the profits. We also have plans to do a Gold Canyon Candle Fundraiser and a Puzzle Piece Fundraiser (more info to come!) We also may decide to sell T-Shirts to add to our adoption fund as well.
So that's what we've been up to and where we are in the adoption process. Thanks for your prayers and support everyone. We could not do it without you!
