Adoption can be an incredibly long process and we've been lucky so far that the application/home study process has moved so quickly for us. We went to our first information session for our agency on February 11, 2012. After that session we both felt good about adoption and felt sure that God was leading us in that direction, but we took some time to really pray about it before moving forward. At the end of March we mailed off our preliminary application and it was accepted a few weeks later. We attended a mandatory day long conference on April 21st and got to meet several other families also going through this process. It was such an eye opening experience and it was great to get support from other women going through the same experiences. It was also during that session that We really opened our hearts to the idea of open adoption (more about that in another post).
The next step was to complete the formal application. This application included long autobiographies, criminal background checks, and lots of other paperwork. They asked so many personal questions, and although at times it was frustraing to have to disclose so much about ourselves, it also brought up good conversation between Mark and I that we probably would not have otherwise had.
Once that was done, we had three "home study" visits with our social worker, only one of which was actually at our home. Mark and I were interviewed together, then separately, then together again and on the last visit she toured our home. After that we just waited for her to type up the home study and for the board to approve us as adoptive applicants. We received our official acceptance on July 22nd. Then met with the director for our final meeting on August 1st and were officially waiting that day!
Since then we have submitted pictures to be placed on the agency's website which is where the birth mothers/families will first see us, and we have completed our photo book, which will help interested birth mothers/families learn more about us.
What we do know is that the wait can be long, the average is 9 months, but other families have waited more than 18 months. Although there have certainly been times during this process that we have found ourselves frustrated and overwhelmed, I can look back and see the purpose behind what we have done. I can also look back and see that our path through the application process could have been much longer and much more trying. We have absolutely been very blessed. Here's hoping our waiting process goes as smoothly (and quickly) as the application process has!
Now for those of you who managed to get through the whole post, you get to see what happens at my house while I'm hard at work typing a blog post...
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