Well the stockings are almost hung by the fireplace with care. Of course they are just the four for the furbabies, but I'm sure we can make space next year for a few more non-furbaby children. :)
Our long journey to become daddy 1 and daddy 2 is getting so close. Our final class is Friday night. Not sure what we are all going to learn in that class as it's a pot luck celebration. Either way we are glad to be done and have our Friday nights back. It's been a good class. Even though we've taken it all before I appreciate the professionalism and organization that the presenters brought to it. The class in Nebraska was poorly done compared to our trainers here.
Our final home study visit was completed on Saturday. We had almost everything done. There were 3 things we did forget. Luckily the licensing workers were willing to let us complete them and send them pics versus having to come out again. 1. needed another fire alarm, 2. needed to move some paint in the garage to a higher shelf and 3. needed a thermometer for the first aid kit. We got on these and sent pictures yet Saturday afternoon.
Our licensing worker is planning to have our home study approved by the end of the month. Then we just need to go in, review it and sign everything. Included in this packet will be a confidentiality agreement. Until after the adoption we cannot share much of the kids backgrounds, names or pictures on Facebook. As before if I mention them anywhere they will most likely be referred to as Foster with a number. Ya know cause their will be more than 1.
Once we are approved we work with our licensing worker to continue down the journey and start meeting with adoption case workers. Our licensing worker stays with us for the first 9 months to ensure things are going smoothly, remind us of what we learned in class and be a resource. Once we have met with adoption workers and have agreed about possible good matches for us, the kids will be contacted by their case workers to see how they feel about us. Since our age group is 8 years or older the kids do get some input on what families they go to. If everyone agrees to meet then the courtship begins.
We start by meeting with the kids for a few hours every week to get to know each other and start building a bond. After a while if things are going well we'll do overnight stays. If those go well the kids would then transition to our home full-time at which time we would be considered their foster parents. All adoptive parents have to foster their potential adoptive children for at least 6 months prior to being able to legally adopt. This ensures that the family unit has bonded, that the case workers feel the bond will work long-term and ensures the kids and us are on board to continue. Some adoptions could take much longer than the six months and some are completed at the six month mark exactly. Just depends on the situation.
So at this point we've done about everything that we can do. Now it's just to patiently wait for paperwork to be done so we can start talking to the case workers about specific kids.
I'm not going to lie I'm getting a little excited and nervous. I'm excited to have kids, but nervous thinking about what if they don't bond with us, what if they don't think of us as their Dad's etc.
I guess only time will tell!
Peace, Love and Puppy Dogs,
J
Our long journey to become daddy 1 and daddy 2 is getting so close. Our final class is Friday night. Not sure what we are all going to learn in that class as it's a pot luck celebration. Either way we are glad to be done and have our Friday nights back. It's been a good class. Even though we've taken it all before I appreciate the professionalism and organization that the presenters brought to it. The class in Nebraska was poorly done compared to our trainers here.
Our final home study visit was completed on Saturday. We had almost everything done. There were 3 things we did forget. Luckily the licensing workers were willing to let us complete them and send them pics versus having to come out again. 1. needed another fire alarm, 2. needed to move some paint in the garage to a higher shelf and 3. needed a thermometer for the first aid kit. We got on these and sent pictures yet Saturday afternoon.
Our licensing worker is planning to have our home study approved by the end of the month. Then we just need to go in, review it and sign everything. Included in this packet will be a confidentiality agreement. Until after the adoption we cannot share much of the kids backgrounds, names or pictures on Facebook. As before if I mention them anywhere they will most likely be referred to as Foster with a number. Ya know cause their will be more than 1.
Once we are approved we work with our licensing worker to continue down the journey and start meeting with adoption case workers. Our licensing worker stays with us for the first 9 months to ensure things are going smoothly, remind us of what we learned in class and be a resource. Once we have met with adoption workers and have agreed about possible good matches for us, the kids will be contacted by their case workers to see how they feel about us. Since our age group is 8 years or older the kids do get some input on what families they go to. If everyone agrees to meet then the courtship begins.
We start by meeting with the kids for a few hours every week to get to know each other and start building a bond. After a while if things are going well we'll do overnight stays. If those go well the kids would then transition to our home full-time at which time we would be considered their foster parents. All adoptive parents have to foster their potential adoptive children for at least 6 months prior to being able to legally adopt. This ensures that the family unit has bonded, that the case workers feel the bond will work long-term and ensures the kids and us are on board to continue. Some adoptions could take much longer than the six months and some are completed at the six month mark exactly. Just depends on the situation.
So at this point we've done about everything that we can do. Now it's just to patiently wait for paperwork to be done so we can start talking to the case workers about specific kids.
I'm not going to lie I'm getting a little excited and nervous. I'm excited to have kids, but nervous thinking about what if they don't bond with us, what if they don't think of us as their Dad's etc.
I guess only time will tell!
Peace, Love and Puppy Dogs,
J
No comments:
Post a Comment