Adoption News

Well, guess what? Yesterday I finally finished my pre-adoption application, yay! It was only the beginning of tons of paperwork and waiting, though. It was the first step, no looking back now.

It's amazing how many things that they ask you on just your pre-application---- Work references, personal references, physician references, the list goes on! However, luckily, I think that we will pass all of those things.

The next step in the process is a "Home Physical Standards" test. This includes making sure that you have hot & cold running water, heat, at least 50 square feet in the prospective child's bedroom, and other things. I hope that we will pass that one, too.

After you pass the house test they send you to parenting classes. I believe that it's 2 months of classes every Saturday. Hubbles is *not* going to be happy about that. I forgot to ask the lady if BOTH of us have to be at EVERY single class. I have no problems with going every weekend, but he has a lot of stuff to do with his volunteer work.

After you pass your parenting classes I think that you are all set to be certified as an adoptive family, and then they start trying to match you with prospective children. Hubbles and I are hoping that we will be able to get either an Asian child, Caucasian, or a mix of the two. He wants the child to look at least a *little* like us, but I told him that is silly-- You should love whichever child that they give you. And I'm sure he would... It just may take a few days! If it were a perfect world, they would give us a boy under the age of 2. I know it's not like ordering lunch though, you have to be flexible.

Hopefully if you are reading this it might have helped you start thinking about the adoption process. It sounds like a lot of work and it takes a long time, but in the end it's worth it.