After all my worrying, stressing, and fretting, our first home visit was a success. Our caseworker Laura is a such a low key person that I don't know why I make myself so nervous. I just wanted everything to be perfect. Laura came to the house for a tour of it. We told her of all of our remodeling that had been completed (and a few things that still need to be completed). We also went over and signed the fee afreement, which isn't too bad considering. She is so flexible with time frames that I know it will all be fine. We also talked about birthparents expectations and really what happens. The more open you are to communication with the birth mother is usually best expecially before hand. Laura told us that only a couple of her families have stayed in contact after the placement. Communication is usually before hand nad just need to be flexible with afterwards. I think Mike and I are really open to whatever will be best for our child. After all it will be their world and we are just living in it. LOL!
I did ask her what would happen if we did by chance find a birth mother on our own. We went thru some situations and have a pretty good idea of what we would need to do. If any of you would be willing to keep your ears open for any possible babies for us to adopt, we would greatly appreciate it. It would cut down on our waiting time and that would be awesome. We are ready to be parents and just can't wait!
Right now, we are to be working on a picture profile showing us, our families, our animals, and our house. This is going to be a tough one for me. I am so not into scrapbooking. I do not have an eye for it so please pray that it will turn in a way that would be attractive to the birthmother we are supposed to have. Laura told us to try and tell a story thru our pictures and make sure to label that this will be grandma and grandpa or cousins or aunts and uncles. We also will be working on our dear birthparent letter. We will be getting examples of these to start on. We need to take time to get to Springfield and get fingerprinted too! That is a better get done soon, but it is going to have to be after May begins due to work schedules.
I never knew how much there was to all of this. My first reaction was, "Why do we have to do all this, anyone can just have a baby." I realized that the whole expericne will make us appreciate each other and our child all the more. We will have a unique story to share with our child and the world of how we became a family and I think that is worth all the homework, writing, and everything.
Just think ~ you'll be more prepared than most people having their first baby. If it were possible I believe everyone should be required to take some kind of classes before becoming a parent. After all we have to be licensed to drive and do a lot of jobs out there like real estate, doctors, teachers, etc. And parenting is probably one of the toughest jobs out there. Plus I look at all the requirement as a way to protect your child. You wouldn't want it to be too easy or kids would go from one bad situation to another. I know you'll be good parents and so do you friends and family, but I do not in any way envy people like Laura who have the tough job of deciding whether placing a child in a person's home will be good for the child or not. Some people can hide or be in denial of a lot of problems in their life. And there are a lot of people with the wrong intentions who adopt so that they can receive state funds or can have a kid to do all the work around the house that they don't want to do, etc. So all the hoops you have to jump through aren't all that bad when you stop and think about it. ;o) It is frustrating though, I agree.
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