Social worker M made her inspection. After giving her the grand tour of the house, we sat out on our deck where we fed her fruit and chatted about this, that and the other thing...mostly to do with the house and the adoption.
M left at 6:45 p.m.
The house was (and still is) quite clean and, aside from the fact that the temperature during the home inspection was only just shy of what it must feel like on the surface of the sun, the visit went extremely well.
Apparently we passed our home visit.
We passed!
Chris and I are breathing huge sighs of relief.
Relief!
Have I mentioned that we passed??? That M said this seemed like it would be a great place to raise a kid??? That she was impressed with the gardening we've done and the changes we've made to the house???
We passed!!!
So now we just have to get the rest of the paperwork done and submitted in the next three weeks or so.
(Oh yeah - and actually apply to the placement agency.)
We're one big step closer to bringing Schmoopie home.
Showing posts with label social worker. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social worker. Show all posts
19 August 2009
04 August 2009
Sweet relief...part 2
My friend Connie writes on my Facebook page today
I reply to her
My nerves were pretty frayed this morning thinking about our interviews with social worker M scheduled for this afternoon.
Luckily...all went well.
M seemed to find my autobiography interesting and enjoyed at least one of the attachments I included. She smiled a lot and even laughed.
Whew.
Sigh of sweet relief.
Jenn you are going to do just fine. Thinking of you we are. That was my Yoda for the day. Breathe.
I reply to her
Thank you, Master Yoda. Breathing I am.
My nerves were pretty frayed this morning thinking about our interviews with social worker M scheduled for this afternoon.
Luckily...all went well.
M seemed to find my autobiography interesting and enjoyed at least one of the attachments I included. She smiled a lot and even laughed.
Whew.
Sigh of sweet relief.
Nerves of steel...
Nope.
No nerves of steel here...at least, not for me. I can't speak for Chris.
We have our individual interviews with social worker M this evening and I'm nervous.
Like REALLY nervous.
Toward the end of our interview as a couple last week I finally couldn't stand it anymore and asked M, "So, are we doing OK? Do you think we're good candidates to be parents?"
She gave us a nice smile, but not really much of an answer.
I'm going to take her smile as a good sign, but still...
As y'all no doubt are aware...I'm a dork (and just in case you forgot that fact, please refer back to my post My fantasy...)
And when I get nervous I talk a lot...and get kind of goofy...and rely on humor to get me through my bout of nerves.
M is very very nice, but I don't think that she and I quite have the same sense of humor.
And that makes me more nervous.
Which means I'll babble more and make more sarcastic/humorous remarks.
You see how this is going to go, don't you?
Maybe I'll get there early and meditate...get calm and centered.
Yeah.
Superman I'm not...no nerves of steel here.
Wish me luck.
No nerves of steel here...at least, not for me. I can't speak for Chris.
We have our individual interviews with social worker M this evening and I'm nervous.
Like REALLY nervous.
Toward the end of our interview as a couple last week I finally couldn't stand it anymore and asked M, "So, are we doing OK? Do you think we're good candidates to be parents?"
She gave us a nice smile, but not really much of an answer.
I'm going to take her smile as a good sign, but still...
As y'all no doubt are aware...I'm a dork (and just in case you forgot that fact, please refer back to my post My fantasy...)
And when I get nervous I talk a lot...and get kind of goofy...and rely on humor to get me through my bout of nerves.
M is very very nice, but I don't think that she and I quite have the same sense of humor.
And that makes me more nervous.
Which means I'll babble more and make more sarcastic/humorous remarks.
You see how this is going to go, don't you?
Maybe I'll get there early and meditate...get calm and centered.
Yeah.
Superman I'm not...no nerves of steel here.
Wish me luck.
01 June 2009
Timetables...waiting, waiting, waiting
So...what Chris and I have done so far to get us that much closer to expanding our family to Plus One:
1. Made the decision to adopt
2. Talked with friends, family and colleagues who have been through the adoption process
3. Met with a social worker from a homestudy agency in MA
4. Met with a social worker from an international adoption agency in RI
5. Searched on-line for other adoption agencies and sent away for informational packets
6. Set up an appointment via conference call with an adoption agency based in CA that specializes in domestic adoptions
7. Started this blog
8. Solicited more advice from friends, family and colleagues
9. Continue to have long conversations about domestic adoption vs. international (we're leaning toward domestic)
10. Started banking all of my salary to use for adoption fees and kid-related stuff
And even though we've done all of the above (which feels like a lot already!) we've barely skimmed the surface of the process. Oy vay! By all accounts from friends, colleagues and the adoption professionals with whom we've talked so far, the rest of this process is relatively tedious, complicated and time consuming.
"It's pretty much a full time job for a while when you're pulling together all of your paper work," one of our friends says to us.
Our next step is to select an organization to help us complete The Home Study. This part of the adoption process is apparently quite the adventure (or ordeal/trial...depending on your attitude...) involving five to six visits from the social worker - a visit/interview with both Chris and I, individual interviews with each of us, followed by another joint interview and an actual home inspection. Both of the adoption professionals with whom we've met assured us that the vast majority of couples looking to adopt pass the home study with mostly flying colors.
"I only had one couple that I didn't think would do very well," says one of the social workers to us, "I walked into their home and they had white couches, whites chairs and a glass and steel coffee table that didn't have a single finger print on it. All I could think was, 'Oh my, what's going to happen when there's a little person with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in this room???'"
Since our entire house is designed to deal with the cat barf from three old and barf-prone cats (slip-covered futon furniture), I feel strongly that we're prepared to deal with kid barf and peanut butter and jelly smears. Thus I'm hoping that we'll at least pass the home inspection.
While we're completing the homestudy there is apparently a myriad of paperwork that will need to be completed/collected/submitted - financial statements, marriage certificates, proof of employment, character references, photos of ourselves and our families, fingerprints, etc.
We even have to write individual autobiographies.
All of this is going to take time. Lots of time.
This is one of the hardest parts of the adoptions process.
When you're pregnant and someone asks you about your due date you can say, "Oh, the baby will arrive in September." With adoption...who knows?
There are no guaranteed timetables in Adoption Land.
We could complete the homestudy in record time get all of our ducks in a row and a baby might still not be available for some time. Or we could get hung up in the home study and paper work phase. Or any number of things could happen. We'll just have to be positive and move forward. We can't necessarily say when, but hopefully the waiting and wondering and paper gathering and home studying will not dampen our enthusiasm for becoming Plus One.
Chris and I mentioned one night at dinner that we are leaning toward pursuing a domestic adoption. Toward the end of dinner, my mother-in-law had a sort of funny, serious look on her face so we asked what she was thinking.
"If you guys are doing a domestic adoption," she says with a suddenly huge grin, "your baby could be in-utero right now!!!"
Indeed... Our Little One may very well be out there right now, growing and getting ready to join the world and our family. We're waiting for you, Little One!
1. Made the decision to adopt
2. Talked with friends, family and colleagues who have been through the adoption process
3. Met with a social worker from a homestudy agency in MA
4. Met with a social worker from an international adoption agency in RI
5. Searched on-line for other adoption agencies and sent away for informational packets
6. Set up an appointment via conference call with an adoption agency based in CA that specializes in domestic adoptions
7. Started this blog
8. Solicited more advice from friends, family and colleagues
9. Continue to have long conversations about domestic adoption vs. international (we're leaning toward domestic)
10. Started banking all of my salary to use for adoption fees and kid-related stuff
And even though we've done all of the above (which feels like a lot already!) we've barely skimmed the surface of the process. Oy vay! By all accounts from friends, colleagues and the adoption professionals with whom we've talked so far, the rest of this process is relatively tedious, complicated and time consuming.
"It's pretty much a full time job for a while when you're pulling together all of your paper work," one of our friends says to us.
Our next step is to select an organization to help us complete The Home Study. This part of the adoption process is apparently quite the adventure (or ordeal/trial...depending on your attitude...) involving five to six visits from the social worker - a visit/interview with both Chris and I, individual interviews with each of us, followed by another joint interview and an actual home inspection. Both of the adoption professionals with whom we've met assured us that the vast majority of couples looking to adopt pass the home study with mostly flying colors.
"I only had one couple that I didn't think would do very well," says one of the social workers to us, "I walked into their home and they had white couches, whites chairs and a glass and steel coffee table that didn't have a single finger print on it. All I could think was, 'Oh my, what's going to happen when there's a little person with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in this room???'"
Since our entire house is designed to deal with the cat barf from three old and barf-prone cats (slip-covered futon furniture), I feel strongly that we're prepared to deal with kid barf and peanut butter and jelly smears. Thus I'm hoping that we'll at least pass the home inspection.
While we're completing the homestudy there is apparently a myriad of paperwork that will need to be completed/collected/submitted - financial statements, marriage certificates, proof of employment, character references, photos of ourselves and our families, fingerprints, etc.
We even have to write individual autobiographies.
All of this is going to take time. Lots of time.
This is one of the hardest parts of the adoptions process.
When you're pregnant and someone asks you about your due date you can say, "Oh, the baby will arrive in September." With adoption...who knows?
There are no guaranteed timetables in Adoption Land.
We could complete the homestudy in record time get all of our ducks in a row and a baby might still not be available for some time. Or we could get hung up in the home study and paper work phase. Or any number of things could happen. We'll just have to be positive and move forward. We can't necessarily say when, but hopefully the waiting and wondering and paper gathering and home studying will not dampen our enthusiasm for becoming Plus One.
Chris and I mentioned one night at dinner that we are leaning toward pursuing a domestic adoption. Toward the end of dinner, my mother-in-law had a sort of funny, serious look on her face so we asked what she was thinking.
"If you guys are doing a domestic adoption," she says with a suddenly huge grin, "your baby could be in-utero right now!!!"
Indeed... Our Little One may very well be out there right now, growing and getting ready to join the world and our family. We're waiting for you, Little One!
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