Home Study Complete!

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