Yeah!! We did it!! Our home study is complete!! Our caseworker came to our house today and completed the home study that will make us foster care approved, foster care licensing is required for adoption placement and only needs to be adhered to until the adoption is finalized (about 6 months after placement). We started out by handing over and reviewing our resume letters (10 copies, each with a photo and our signatures) and portfolio books (2 identical books, one copy will go into our file and one copy will go to the birthmother that chooses us, but right now these books will go to a library and wait for a birthmother to request to take a closer look at us), it was hard to part with these because of all the time spent working on them. I did make a color copy for ourselves (which I am using to create our child's adoption storybook), but it's not the same as the same as having the original. We then reviewed the results of our Prepare and Enrich Assessment, which we passed! Our caseworker reviewed and took other paperwork we were required to complete; one was a form telling a little more about us and the other told them the type of infant we are looking to adopt (age, sex, race, what type of medical issues we may be open to, if we would be accepting of a birthmother and father with a history of smoking/drinking/drugs, our plans for child care and how much time we plan to take off from work, what type of interests and hobbies we will expose our child to and more!), and our recent tax return. Our birth certificates and marriage licenses were viewed and we were asked our thoughts on the process we have been through thus far and if we had any questions regarding any of the processes we have been though and will be going through. We them took our caseworker on a tour of our home and she completed her report for the foster license. We will officially be on the waiting list in about 2 weeks, it will take about a month for us to get the official letter and foster care certificate in the mail; our worker admitted to being a little slow on getting the letter and certificate mailed out and that our resume letter will be in the wait book before we get the official word.
So now we wait! It may be awhile before you see more posts since we don't know how long the waiting process will be (they tell us anywhere from 2 months to 2 years!). I will keep you up to date as I know more, for now we just wait and pray!
Keep us all those involved in adoption in your thoughts and prayers!
Jenny
Monday, August 20, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
Home Study Class Session 5 of 5
Well we did it! We made it thru the home study classes! It's taken me awhile to get the time to post an update about or last session, the classes and paperwork took over our lives for so long, I/we have been busy catching up on lives (but the paperwork is still not finished).
Our final class covered more cultural issues, resource/support available to us, post placement, a wrap up and finally the scheduling our home visit!
The waiting game will soon begin! We have our home visit scheduled for August 20th! (13 days away!) To prepare for this home visit we were given a 68+ page printout covering the Wisconsin Administrative Code/Chapter 56 for Foster Home Care for Child (we must follow this code until our placement is finalized). This information is suppose to prepare us for our home visit, a lot of the info went right over the top of my head. I think we are just going to wing the visit and hope for the best. Basically we were told she (our case worker/social worker) will be looking to make sure we have enough space to bring a child into our home and that our home is safe. Once our visit is complete we will be approved and added to the wait list.
We were given a list of things we can do to keep ourselves occupied while we wait. Here are just a few of them: keep your employer updated, search for a pediatrician and child care provider (while under the foster care rules this must me a certified and or licensed provider or family member), take an expectant parent class, set up the nursery, do all the thing we have wanted to do as a couple (that won't be as easy to do once we have a child) and finally make it a happy time!!
So currently we are in the process of finishing our resume letter, portfolio letter and portfolio. I have re-written my resume and portfolio letter several time, I think I finally have it worded properly and hopefully it is perfect! We can only refer to ourselves as Travis and Jenny, no last names, no addresses or telling of where we live or distinguishable landmarks. It's harder than you think, I have over used the word "we", can't use the word "I" (because this letter needs to be from both us), and sometime it sounded like I was referring to myself and Travis in the third person. I'll be sooooo glad when the letter is finally out of my hands and I can't scrutinize it anymore! The portfolio is going well, but I am getting a little tired of looking at and sorting thru pictures. We completed our Enrich and Prepare Assessment, an online course that questioned us on all aspects of life from our relationship and parenting to finical and stress issues. It was over 200 questions! and will be reviewed at our home study. We also went and had our fingerprinting done, we both lucked out and did not get thrown behind bars :).
Well I'll close now and update more after our home visit. Say a prayer tonight for our birthmother, she is out there somewhere needing the Lords guidance to make the right decision for her unborn child. And pray for us and all the other waiting families that our waits will be short.
Jenny
Our final class covered more cultural issues, resource/support available to us, post placement, a wrap up and finally the scheduling our home visit!
The waiting game will soon begin! We have our home visit scheduled for August 20th! (13 days away!) To prepare for this home visit we were given a 68+ page printout covering the Wisconsin Administrative Code/Chapter 56 for Foster Home Care for Child (we must follow this code until our placement is finalized). This information is suppose to prepare us for our home visit, a lot of the info went right over the top of my head. I think we are just going to wing the visit and hope for the best. Basically we were told she (our case worker/social worker) will be looking to make sure we have enough space to bring a child into our home and that our home is safe. Once our visit is complete we will be approved and added to the wait list.
We were given a list of things we can do to keep ourselves occupied while we wait. Here are just a few of them: keep your employer updated, search for a pediatrician and child care provider (while under the foster care rules this must me a certified and or licensed provider or family member), take an expectant parent class, set up the nursery, do all the thing we have wanted to do as a couple (that won't be as easy to do once we have a child) and finally make it a happy time!!
So currently we are in the process of finishing our resume letter, portfolio letter and portfolio. I have re-written my resume and portfolio letter several time, I think I finally have it worded properly and hopefully it is perfect! We can only refer to ourselves as Travis and Jenny, no last names, no addresses or telling of where we live or distinguishable landmarks. It's harder than you think, I have over used the word "we", can't use the word "I" (because this letter needs to be from both us), and sometime it sounded like I was referring to myself and Travis in the third person. I'll be sooooo glad when the letter is finally out of my hands and I can't scrutinize it anymore! The portfolio is going well, but I am getting a little tired of looking at and sorting thru pictures. We completed our Enrich and Prepare Assessment, an online course that questioned us on all aspects of life from our relationship and parenting to finical and stress issues. It was over 200 questions! and will be reviewed at our home study. We also went and had our fingerprinting done, we both lucked out and did not get thrown behind bars :).
Well I'll close now and update more after our home visit. Say a prayer tonight for our birthmother, she is out there somewhere needing the Lords guidance to make the right decision for her unborn child. And pray for us and all the other waiting families that our waits will be short.
Jenny
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Home Study Class Session 4 of 5
This session covered:
Adoption Issues:
Tomorrow is our last class! We will schedule our home visit be fore we leave; it will take place within the next 4-6 weeks. We (I) have been busy writing resume letters and creating our portfolio; these item and some other paper work need to be completed and turned in at our home study. Once our home study is approved we start the waiting game; it will take any where from 2 months to 2 years be fore we could be selected by a birth family.
Please keep us, the birth families and other adoptive families in your thoughts and prayers; we are all in need of them!
Adoption Issues:
- Responding to outsider questions; deciding what to share (not all questions need to be answered)
- Lifelong issues in adoption
- Family building; bonding and attachment
- Transracial/cultural adoption
- Preparing yourself (the adoptive parent)
- Preparing family and friend (adoption is a process how your child joined your family, not how they should be described).
- Becoming a parent
- Stages of development
- Child/parent behaviors
- Listening/Setting limits
- Healthy adoptive parenting
- Stress busters for adoptive parents
- Success factors for adoptive parents
- Parents Rights
- Bill of Rights for Adoptee
- Talking about adoption with children
Tomorrow is our last class! We will schedule our home visit be fore we leave; it will take place within the next 4-6 weeks. We (I) have been busy writing resume letters and creating our portfolio; these item and some other paper work need to be completed and turned in at our home study. Once our home study is approved we start the waiting game; it will take any where from 2 months to 2 years be fore we could be selected by a birth family.
Please keep us, the birth families and other adoptive families in your thoughts and prayers; we are all in need of them!
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