Where Exactly Are We At In The Adoption Process?
First, I just want to thank everyone for how thoughtful your responses have been to our adoption announcement!
Wow, I knew people would be kind but I always forget how special it makes you feel to have people express their support, excitement, love, and well-wishes. You all are truly gifts and it feels really good to walk through this new chapter of our lives with you.
So where are we at the in the adoption process as of today?
Welp, we're finishing up our home study.
Boiled down a bit, these are the milestones we have to cross in the adoption process:
- Initial application (started Feb. 26th)
- Home Study (started Mar. 8th)
- I-800A
- Dossier
- Referral (if not already matched)
- Travel
I know some of those terms might not make any sense yet but I'll explain more about them as the process goes on. For right now, the simplest way to tell you where we are is that we're almost done with milestone #2!
The home study is the process of a caseworker coming into your home and into your lives to assess the environment to which an adoptive child will be moving into. At least, that's how I have perceived it to be.
I think most people usually picture a home study going somewhat like this: A crotchety, elderly woman comes into your home, looks for everything that is wrong, judges your soul, and (if you're lucky) gives you a reluctant thumbs up to continue in your adoption journey.
Okay, so maybe it was just me that thought that, but, boy, was I wrong.
The process of completing our home study has been so good. A lot of paperwork? Oh, my, yes. But still good.
The agency doing our home study is a gem. From day one, they have walked alongside us in the home study process every step of the way - answering my phone calls right away, responding to emails within the hour, and mailing us paperwork the second it was available. For a number of weeks, we didn't have a caseworker assigned to us and the receptionist answered every. single. question.
I swear these people must feel like broken records, answering the same types of questions over and over again. But never once have they made me feel silly, stupid, or like I am annoying them with question after relentless question.
Our caseworker did look at our home but that was the smallest part of the process. She also spent a number of hours interviewing us - asking questions about our childhood, our extended family, our marriage, and our parenting styles. In all our interactions, whether in person, over the phone, or over the internet, she has always been pleasant, realistic, and genuine.
She has been understanding 100% of the time and judgemental 0% of the time.
Overall, I'm really thankful for the home study process and, while a TON of work, believe it's totally necessary to help prepare a family for what's to come.
So how close are we to being done?
Well, all of our interviews and home visits have been completed and our caseworker is currently writing our report while she waits to receive two more pieces of paperwork from us. After that, we will need to review the finished report, give our thumbs up to it, and then she will forward the completed home study to our adoption agency (which is actually in Delaware).
The home study is one of the bigger hoops to jump through in the adoption process so it feels really good to see that finish line on the horizon.
While we wait for the home study to be completed, we've been prepping as much of the I-800A paperwork as we can, which is the next step after the home study.
"So, when will you know who you are adopting, Brooke?"
That's a great question that has a relatively complicated answer (that I promise I'll write very soon) but for now, I can say that we could be matched with a child at any point after the home study is complete - even more motivation to get it done 😊
Can't wait to tell you about why we decided to adopt next!
Much love,
Brooke
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