Fost-adopt update: Meeting with Rolf

"So how did the meeting go?"

Without a doubt yesterday was wonderful! I got up and changed shirts about 3 times before I was satisfied. (Partly because I couldn't decide how casual or dressy I should be and partly because of the bad sunburn on my back.) After finally picking a shirt I proceeded to iron it. For anyone other than Steve or my mother this is a big statement. I NEVER iron. I must have been anxious. Shortly after my nicely pressed shirt was completed we headed out the door for Sebestaphol. It's a little town about an hour or so north of where we live. After getting turned around several times we figured out where we were going and grabbed breakfast at the McDonald's just down the road. Once we finally got our order (and I mean finally! How long does it take to make a sausage biscuit?) we quickly ate and showed up right on time for our meeting. We took turns describing what we imagined Rolf to look like. I suggested 35 skinny and balding. Steve felt he would look 40-45 and chunky. It turns our in reality our Rolf was quite normal in body build with a full head of hair (mostly gray) and a full beard. He told us at some point in the meeting that he was 57 years old. So we were both way off. Personality wise we were a bit more on par. He was super sweet and comfortable to talk too. While we don't think after talking he is a Christian he is surly a person of peace.

He began the meeting by asking us if we had any pressing questions. We had some but felt that if he went over the process it might answer some of them. He slowly walked us through the process and shared potential scenarios with us of things that might happen. After sharing he gave us time to ask a few of our unanswered questions and then gave us a few minutes alone to discuss and make sure that this is what we want. We shared we sill wanted to move forward in the process and that led to a mound of paperwork. Half of the paperwork we filled our at the office. The other half he sent home with us.

Things we learned that surprised and encouraged us

The process of adoption is much shorter than we expected. Each child's parents are given 6-18 months to meet the requirements that will allow them to get their children back. If in that time frame they have not been able to get their act together they are offered to us for adoption. Once we agree it is then a 6 month process until the adoption is completed. So the entire process could be completed in 1-2 years. There is risk involved no matter how low risk they believe the child is. This is because at any point if the child's relative wants to keep them they get first choice in adoption. Please pray with us that the child who we receive will stay with us.

We also were encouraged by the prudent parenting law. This allows us to leave our child with an adult we trust for less than 24 hours without having to get them fingerprinted. It also allows us to have guests in our home for less than a month without having to have them fingerprinted. We are so grateful that our friends and family who want to help us will not have to hassle with red tape.

One last very cool thing we learned is that can travel with our child before the adoption is completed. For example if we want to vacation back to Mississippi or Washington we can bring them with us! The court simply has to approve it. 

Most people have been asking us, "what's the next step in the process?" 

The  answer is filling out all the forms we were given. This includes 75 essay questions on our life, getting a physical, a financial form, getting finger printed, drawing a floor plan of our house, going to the DMV (YUCK!!!!), paperwork for our employer to fill out, emergency contact information, and instructions on how to prep our house for an inspection. (Feeling a bit overwhelmed just thinking about it all!) Once this is all completed and submitted we are then going to be assigned our social worker (Rolf will be their supervisor.) She will then come to our home for the home study. Much to my surprise this does not mean an inspection. She will be coming to "interview" us over a series of meetings in order to write a 15 page document on us that will be sent out to agencies looking to place children. Once our home study is complete we will go to our intensive 18 hour training weekend. We have several other training events to attend after that and then we will be certified! So we still have a long way to go but we are so excited about what lies ahead of us in the next few months. We are still on track for a January or February placement of a child!!!

Well I guess it's time to start working on all this paperwork I have have instead of just blogging about it! We love you all and want to thank everyone who sent us encouraging messages last Thursday. It is such a blessing to know we're not in it alone!

Ps. if you're interested in doing foster-care or fost-adopt yourself in California check out: http://www.tlc4kids.org/