Let the paper chasing begin...

Since my last post, we received our welcome binder and WOW...there are so much to do! But I'm not complaining. It feels so great that we're actually doing something to make this happen. Our Lifetime adoption coordinator is D'Arce (Dee) and she's been so supportive and answered all the little questions as they popped out of my head. We'll be working closely with Dee and do a scheduled check-in once a month to discuss our progress.

We will also be working with Heidi (website department) to work on the creation of our website and Libby (profile coordinator) to help us with creating our profile. Right now, we are hard at work composing our "Dear Birthmother" letter. I'm having a lot of fun making our profile scrapbook, too. The purpose of the dear birthmother letter and profile is for the birthmothers to learn more about us and get a glimpse of how life will be like for their baby if they choose us to be the adoptive parents. I have to admit there are some pressure because we really want to make it nice and approachable for the birthmothers. But, Lifetime gave us a step-by-step guide for creating our profile and Libby will review all the drafts and give us recommendations if we need to change anything. That will be so helpful!

At the same time, we just contracted with The Family Network (TFN) to complete our home study. A social worker will be contacting us soon to schedule the initial interview in our home and to give us "more" paperwork. A home study is an assessment of our family life and home to make sure we are suitable to become adoptive parents. We will be getting all the details during the first interview but from what I've read so far, we'll have to submit some legal documents, get a physical exam, get finger-printed, provide financial information, and go through several interviews in our home. Then the social worker will write a report on the findings and whether or not we've met the requirements for a child to be safely placed in our home. Nerve-wracking?? Absolutely! But we understand it's necessary and for the best interest of the baby. And I'm sure it's a peace of mind for the birthmother, too. And I believe once again that God is by our side throughout this process. A little over a month ago, just as we were starting the application process, a friend from high school found me on Facebook. It turns out that she's an adoption social worker for L.A. County and she told me she's willing to answer any questions we may have during our home study process. Indeed, our God is an awesome God!

One thing we've completed is setting up an 800 number. That number will be used for the birthmother to call us if they want to speak with us after reading our profile. We still have a long "to-do" list but we will handle them one day at a time...so let the paper chasing begin!