Completing the home study

We have scanned and emailed all of our paper work to our home study agency.  I'm not sure if our SW will want to come back out to the house to visit or not.  I'm guessing so since she hasn't seen our fire extinguishers in place, but she indicated that she was going to try to finish up our home study by the end of the week, with no mention of another visit.

Our first visit was very positive.  The pets all behaved perfectly, our house was pretty well organized, however I did not go too far out of my way to make it any cleaner than I would if it were my parents coming to visit.  We still had that box of mail that we need to go through someday sitting in the corner of our dining room, for instance. All in all, it was a good time and our social worker was very friendly. It was not an intimidating visit in the least.

It's very exciting setting up the kids' rooms, although we are holding off any decorating until we know for sure who we are getting. Part of the reasoning behind this is to involve them in the decor decisions as part of transitioning.  We want them to feel like the rooms they move into are really THEIR rooms. We want them to take ownership of the spaces, but also doing things to set up their rooms gives us something concrete to do as a family those first few weeks rather than staring terrified at each other wondering what to do next. On some level, I'm also hoping that doing these things during the "honeymoon" period & giving them some pride of ownership will prevent them from destroying everything once the "testing our love" phase begins.

After the home study is complete, our social worker will present us to the state's adoption board.  The state will then approve us (hopefully!) as adoptive parents. We will then be in contact with our state adoption specialist and will start the matching process.  At this point, the kids I've considered my "inspiration kids"  are still posted online.  If they remain there when we are approved, they will be the first inquiry we make.

Home study: Paperwork begins

A couple of days ago, we had first contact with the social worker from the agency which will be preforming our home study.  She emailed a lot of forms to be filled out as well as a list of documents we need to gather.  I already emailed back with a lot of questions regarding these forms  & am trying to shrug off what I feel was a rather curt response from the sw.   The forms contained almost no instruction & were very much geared toward foster care applicants, not adoption-only. Most of my questions revolved around that wording.

One of my main goals early in this process is to develop a thicker skin.  This is going to be a long, difficult journey & the questions will  be getting really serious. THEN the profiles of children will be very very difficult to process. THEN the kids themselves will do and say things that I should not take personally. All of this is wrapped up in dealing with a state agency. Having previously worked for a state agency, I know that these forms are originally processed with less care than a slaughterhouse. Having a font-change in the middle of an answer is to be expected and is NOT a sign of disrespect to the applicants.  (Yes it is, forms management workers! These forms are difficult enough to get through without these types of annoyances.)

The checklist of documents we'll need:

• Birth Certificate x2 (mine, his)
• Marriage License, 
• Drivers Licence x2
• Pet Vaccine Records x3 (2 dogs, 1 cat)
• Homeowner's Insurance
• Car Insurance x2
• Car Registration x2
• Recent Pay Stub x2
• Last Year's Tax Return. 

We'll have to update the cat's shots, I think.  & I will need a new copy of my BC, which is in the works.

The list of forms we'll need to complete:

• Foster Care License application (yes, we need to do this, even though we don't want a FC license)
• Criminal History Background Check Application x2
• Child Care Plan (where will the kids go if not with us or at school) 
• Child Protective Services History Check Application x2
• Medical Approval Form x2 (doctor fills out saying we are healthy & probably not on drugs)
• Acknowledgement of Role Form (we understand the care of children is what we are signing up for)
• Water Agreement (check box & sign to say we are on city water) 
• Home Safety Checklist (what they will be looking for, more on this later) 
• Quite Imposing Awkward Question Form x2