Wednesday, January 23, 2008

A Bump in the Adoption Road

I knew the road to adoption would be a long and bumpy journey, but I never expected to encounter a bump during the very first month. Much less the first week! The bump came when I began to get things in place for a home study. The agency we are looking at using to facilitate our adoption is not in our state, so I was told that I needed to find a licensed agency in the state of Ohio to conduct our home study. After the home study was complete, the results could then be mailed to our adoption agency. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong!

I started with calling some county caseworkers that I work with for my job, and was told that the county was required to do my home study if I wanted one, but that if I was not interested in adopting a child from that same county, then I would be at the bottom of the list (meaning that it could take months to get to me). There is so much waiting that happens during the adoption process, and I didn't want to have to wait to get the paperwork going, too Next, I begged my boss to allow Mid Western's adoption caseworker to do my home study, but was told that was a conflict of interest. I understand, but you can't blame me for trying. As a last option, I began calling private agencies here in Ohio to see if one of them would do our home study. The problem with a private agency, was that nobody could understand what we do for a living and nobody liked to hear that we had teenagers with behavior problems in our home. They all told me to mail in the application (and fee!,) and then they would see if they could complete the home study for our family. However, I didn't want to send in the money if it did not even sound promising on the phone. I was beginning to worry that the road to this adoption was closed before we even got started.

Then, last Thursday, the road smoothed out a bit. The counselor who sees the teens in my care came to campus for her weekly sessions. It turns out she is an adoptive mom four times over! She gave me the name of the agency who did all four of her home studies, and she even made a personal call to tell the caseworker she worked with about our living situation, and she verified with that agency that the girls in my care would not pose a threat to an infant being brought into our home. Insert huge sigh of relief and answered prayer.

I am now waiting for the caseworker of that agency to call me back and tell me exactly what would be involved with a home study like ours, and she should get back to me this week. They will have to interview the girls in my care (which might be scary!), and I will have to pay a home study addendum fee for every girl that comes and goes during this entire process (which could add up!), but at least she is willing to work with us. She said that even though our case is more complicated, it is definitely doable! So, hopefully we can get started with the process next week. I finally feel as though we are getting somewhere. I didn't realize that getting everything organized in the beginning can be a full time job! But it is so worth it. We know there is a baby out there that is meant to be a part of our family.

We have not decided fully on whether we will choose domestic or international adoption, but to be honest, right now my heart is drawn to domestic. I don't know why, but it just is. However, I am open to wherever God leads us! We are hanging in there. This is just the beginning. I can already tell that this whole process is going to grow my patience in a mighty way! While I could talk about adoption every single day, I plan on doing a couple of posts each month to let you know how things are progressing. I am still hopeful that we could be holding our tiny bundle by the end of the year!

1 comment:

Paula said...

You know that quote from a movie "Hang on we're in for a bumpy ride", well that totally pertains to adoption. Its called the paperchase in the adoption world. Keep pressing on and if its meant to be God will open the doors.