Second homestudy done!

Our adoption worker came to the house, and yes, we have to replace the railing upstairs(if a 68 lb dog can put her head between the spindles, yes!). I also have to have my clinic write more about my bleeding disorder. They want something that it won't effect my parenting ability, a little history on it. Also, their higher up that approves will be gone for 3 weeks in September, so they are trying to get all of us approved for homestudy by the end of this month! That means instead of the normal 2 1/2 - 3 months, it would be 1 1/2 months for us.

We also have 1 1/2 days the end of this month for education days. They have speakers come in and talk to all of us going through homestudy - things like attachment and bonding, etc.

First homestudy complete!

Pat & I had our first homestudy yesterday at the Catholic Charities office in St. Cloud it was 2 - 2 1/2 hours and they interviewed us together as a couple and each seperately. We kind of felt like babbling fools - we kept restating things. However, we got through it. She also explained the whole process again more in depth - the legal risk period before the birthmother signs the consent form, the process of birth parents choosing you, etc. Luckily, we were meeting friends for drinks afterward! I did not come down from the nervous energy until this morning.

Something interesting - the agency tries to have 14 adoptive families at a minimum, 21 maximum for birthparents to choose from and then there is a waiting list. Right now they are at the 14 and even with the homestudies they have in process, they will not get back up to the 21.

Our next homestudy is Aug 4th at our house. She will tour our house and get a feel for the neighborhood.

Our first homestudy appointment is set!

July 17th, 3:00 PM in St. Cloud. Our adoption worker called me today to set it up. We are very excited!

Got a package in the mail!

Today we got a package in the mail from Catholic Charities. It contained three books to read: Raising Adopted Children, Dear Birthmother, and Adoption Without Fear. These are to read and then discuss in the 1.5 day workshop we will need to attend. The letter with them told us who our adoption worker will be and how to contact them. It was nice to get this in the mail so we know where to go from here.

Application Day!

Pat will be dropping off the adoption application today at Catholic Charities. The adoption worker was only in Tuesday this week so he'll be giving it to the receptionist. He had dropped off medical info forms to our clinic earlier this week and I had a voicemail from them yesterday that my nurse practitioner had been more than happy to fill it out and had made sure to mail it off right away.

Getting the application together

We have almost all of the application materials together. Our friends and family have been wonderfully supportive. We have had friends offer to be references when they find out we are doing this. It's a great feeling to know they hold us in such a positive light to be parents. The only things we still need to get are a couple of values of accounts and since it's a holiday weekend offices are closed. We will get the info Tuesday and then hand in the application.

We have decided to do a domestic adoption, there are so many kids here that need love and a family. After we hand in the application, I am going to start on our family book. I'm not very crafty with scrapbooking, so I'm looking for a digital option there. I'm better with the computer than the scissors and glue. Also, maybe then I won't accidentally glue doggy fur into it! I'm sure they would be sooooo helpful while I'm trying to do that.

Pat and I are very excited to start this. We have found out about some foundations that offer grants once the homestudy is done, so we may be looking into that to help with some of the costs, otherwise we have been saving up for it as well. We have not bought much in preparation since we don't know for sure when this will happen, sex of the child, and exact age at adoption.

Adoption Application

Catholic Charities was nice enough to mail us out the adoption application now so that we can have it completed by our third anniversary in May. I'm glad they did. There is so much information they need. Some we will start on right away, some I'll wait until closer to the time to hand it in.

Some of the information:

Application form:

• Names of applicants
• If any other children in household
• Race, Religion, etc., occupation, days/hours of normal workweek, directions from home to agency
• Description of home as it pertains to adoption - school district, which schools they would attend, transportation to school, do you smoke? do you have pets?
• Description of neighborhood where you live
• Sleeping arrangements-where bedrooms are, what is in the room for the child
• If your vehicles have insurance, etc.
• References-need to be non-related: three general, one employer-husband, one empoyer-wife, one Co-worker husband, one Co-worker wife. Also, you pastor.
• Financial Information-need to know assets and liabilities. They also request monthly expenses. They reuest employment information , if you have declared bankruptcy, an residential, employment and relationship history.

They provide release forms for medical records, an autobriographical outline so that you can write yours, statement of client rights, cards to go get fingerprinted to hand in, consent to FBI background search, an adoption pre-test for each parent to fill out, health questionnaire, disclosure of services and fees, description of adoption process.

Very thourough! If you're thinking of it, make sure to plan some time to get through it all.