This past weekend we were able to attend an adoption class that our agency offers. It was very informative and we were able to meet another family who is adopting from Ethiopia. There were only two of us there, but we found out that there are 22 families currently working with our agency (nationwide) to be in the first round of families to get referrals after licensing. There are more families on a wait list, but we are lucky enough to be among the first. Of course this also means that we have to be prepared for the “bumps” that might come our way as would happen when you are trying anything for the first time. Kevin thinks that will be ‘fun’ and he likes to refer to us as pioneers. I’m a little less adventurous, but at the same time I’m excited about helping our agency get established in Ethiopia.
And, today we turned in our first set of ‘assignments’ for the home study – our autobiographies are finally finished (harder than I anticipated) and we also finished the Issues to Consider and the letter to the Ethiopian government (easier than I anticipated). I got a little behind b/c I am reading some great books right now on transracial adoption, including Are Those Kids Yours? by Cheri Register and In Their Own Voices, which includes interviews from adult adoptees raised in transracial families. There are so many more books out there that I’m planning on reading too – these are the first that I’ve gotten from our reading list.
So, the next step will be interviews with our social worker at her office (hopefully this Friday). She’ll interview us separately and then a little bit together and then we’ll set up our actual home visit. We’re getting the house ready and hoping the dogs are ready! It’s been so cold we haven’t been walking them as much and they don’t like that. But, I will say that Chris & Rob brought all four of their kids over for Superbowl and all three dogs were great with the babies. (Not that I expected different, but it is good to see them so relaxed around the kids.) This is a picture of their babies with our dog Annabelle. They were very cute together.
And, today we turned in our first set of ‘assignments’ for the home study – our autobiographies are finally finished (harder than I anticipated) and we also finished the Issues to Consider and the letter to the Ethiopian government (easier than I anticipated). I got a little behind b/c I am reading some great books right now on transracial adoption, including Are Those Kids Yours? by Cheri Register and In Their Own Voices, which includes interviews from adult adoptees raised in transracial families. There are so many more books out there that I’m planning on reading too – these are the first that I’ve gotten from our reading list.
So, the next step will be interviews with our social worker at her office (hopefully this Friday). She’ll interview us separately and then a little bit together and then we’ll set up our actual home visit. We’re getting the house ready and hoping the dogs are ready! It’s been so cold we haven’t been walking them as much and they don’t like that. But, I will say that Chris & Rob brought all four of their kids over for Superbowl and all three dogs were great with the babies. (Not that I expected different, but it is good to see them so relaxed around the kids.) This is a picture of their babies with our dog Annabelle. They were very cute together.
Hi, I just ran across your blog from the 'ethiopian adoption blog' blogroll. I noticed you are using Children's Hope. We used them for our homestudy, and we are using AAI for our agency (when we started this process CHI did not have an Ehiopia program. I would love to talk to you guys as I am guessing we live in the same general area. My email is sarahgafford@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteOh dear, they look in the closets?
ReplyDelete:) Just kidding- of course the closets have been cleared out! And, for every one of you out there who claims that they didn't go crazy before their home study - I don't believe it. I'm thinking it's like the pain of childbirth - you forget after a while so that you might actually go through it again!