Formal Application Approved
I heard from our social worker at the adoption agency and our "formal application" has been approved! We did not foresee any glitches, but it felt great to get the official email.
The next step is for our agency to mail us the Citizenship and INS application packet. We will file a form in order to get approval to adopt a "foreign orphan". This will be done concurrent with our home study.
Our agency told us the home study process is approximately ninety days. The agency will assign a social worker who will visit our home up to four times and write a report. The social worker's responsibility is to ascertain how well our family can meet the needs of another child as well as assess the strength of our marriage.
There are all kinds of very humorous stories about home studies. People going to elaborate lengths to bleach toilet bowls and the like. With a very spirited two year old and a house full of cats, I am accepting that it is going to be what it is... Hopefully the social worker will pack his or her Benadryl if needed. The massive amounts of pet dander could send him or her in to some sort of allergic reaction.
The home study has this great potential for sit-com like scenarios. I can almost see the cast members of "Growing Pains", a favorite show of mine in the '80s, gathered around with overly animated expressions of alarm, fretting over doilie placement on the coffee table, burning some sort of appetizer, watching in horror as the toilet overflows, staring slack jawed as the toddler squats to pee on the floor...Really the possibilites are just endless.
Some acquaintances who recently had a home study done asked their social worker what it would take to get declined. Would wearing the stereotypical tank reminiscent of the TV show "COPS" do the trick? What about Mom is a red pleather micro mini? Junior getting a really traumatic spanking? One wonders....
Of course, there is always the story of the seemingly balanced couple who was rejected for some relatively insignificant reason. There are not many stories like this, but just enough to support a mild anxiety about the whole experience.
I am sure I will engage in some frantic cleaning myself. It just seems instinctual. A professional is coming over solely to judge, what else would you do?! Just sit and wait for the inevitability of possible rejection? No no, we must do something, however inane.
We also are required to take six internet courses during this three month period. They average about 2.5 hours each and cover a range of adoption related material. When I first read about this agency specific requirement, I had a very high school like response...I complained about yet another requirement. Now, I am embarrassed by my negativity. The first course was well designed and informative. The topics include attachment issues, talking about adoption, becoming a family of color as well as some introspective excercises.
The agency also included a catalog which I discovered today as I was putting some things in to the most massive three ring binder I have ever owned! This catalog is published by Tapestry, a publisher of adoption related books. I plan to do quite a bit of reading relating to the adoption in the next couple of months and will post reflections on the books.
The next step is for our agency to mail us the Citizenship and INS application packet. We will file a form in order to get approval to adopt a "foreign orphan". This will be done concurrent with our home study.
Our agency told us the home study process is approximately ninety days. The agency will assign a social worker who will visit our home up to four times and write a report. The social worker's responsibility is to ascertain how well our family can meet the needs of another child as well as assess the strength of our marriage.
There are all kinds of very humorous stories about home studies. People going to elaborate lengths to bleach toilet bowls and the like. With a very spirited two year old and a house full of cats, I am accepting that it is going to be what it is... Hopefully the social worker will pack his or her Benadryl if needed. The massive amounts of pet dander could send him or her in to some sort of allergic reaction.
The home study has this great potential for sit-com like scenarios. I can almost see the cast members of "Growing Pains", a favorite show of mine in the '80s, gathered around with overly animated expressions of alarm, fretting over doilie placement on the coffee table, burning some sort of appetizer, watching in horror as the toilet overflows, staring slack jawed as the toddler squats to pee on the floor...Really the possibilites are just endless.
Some acquaintances who recently had a home study done asked their social worker what it would take to get declined. Would wearing the stereotypical tank reminiscent of the TV show "COPS" do the trick? What about Mom is a red pleather micro mini? Junior getting a really traumatic spanking? One wonders....
Of course, there is always the story of the seemingly balanced couple who was rejected for some relatively insignificant reason. There are not many stories like this, but just enough to support a mild anxiety about the whole experience.
I am sure I will engage in some frantic cleaning myself. It just seems instinctual. A professional is coming over solely to judge, what else would you do?! Just sit and wait for the inevitability of possible rejection? No no, we must do something, however inane.
We also are required to take six internet courses during this three month period. They average about 2.5 hours each and cover a range of adoption related material. When I first read about this agency specific requirement, I had a very high school like response...I complained about yet another requirement. Now, I am embarrassed by my negativity. The first course was well designed and informative. The topics include attachment issues, talking about adoption, becoming a family of color as well as some introspective excercises.
The agency also included a catalog which I discovered today as I was putting some things in to the most massive three ring binder I have ever owned! This catalog is published by Tapestry, a publisher of adoption related books. I plan to do quite a bit of reading relating to the adoption in the next couple of months and will post reflections on the books.
posted by Mom to brown eyed kids | 8:05 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home