Home-study Update #2

       We are two-thirds of the way through our Home-study interviews!    Our first interview was on July 9th, and has been the longest one so far.  This interview included all of our family for a short part of it and just we parents for the rest of the 3-1/2 hours.  It also included giving our social worker a tour of our home.  We had a lot of questions about how this might work but were pleasantly surprised to see that the home "inspection" was not a rigid, white glove inspection of every aspect of our home, but more like a guided tour for him to see the layout of it.  Information discussed for our first meeting included such things as what led us to adopt, current children's personalities, current children's view of the upcoming adoption, and reviewing paperwork that was sent in previous to our meeting. 

       Our second interview was on July 24th and only included the parents.  Since we had to drive a little more than an hour from our home to meet our social worker, it was a great time to get a sitter to leave the kiddos with and have some time together during the drive. We met at a library.  The first part of this time was spent with all three of us talking together, then we had some separate conversations with our social worker for about 30 minutes each.  Some information discussed in this interview included childhood, our relationship with extended family, getting to know a more about our personalities and interests, our marriage, future goals, and areas of strengths and weaknesses for both of us.  Though we have heard that some of these interviews are really invasive in the information they ask, neither of us have felt that way with either of the two meetings we have had.  Our third and final interview is scheduled for next week, and we should have a written Home-study report ready to go within a few days after that.  We are excited about the steps we have been able to take in the last month to make this adoption journey a reality.  Thanks for following along!

P.S.  Our blog has a new look! Tell us what you think about it in the comments below.

Beginning the Interviews

         Finally! All of the paperwork and the fee for the Homestudy* is in, and we have the green light to continue with the second and last portion of the homestudy process. We will have three interviews with our social worker along with some online educational training to complete the Homestudy. Our first interview is scheduled for next week, and we are looking forward to completing this part of the adoption process.  Getting this far has taken much longer than we originally hoped, but its completion will be a big step in moving forward.

       Thanks to those who have taken the time to ask us how things are going, even when we have had little to say except "still working on paperwork".  Just knowing that you care enough to ask about it is a big encouragement! If you are a regular reader (or even if you're not), please comment on our blog.  We love to hear from those who are following our journey and appreciate hearing from you there too!




 *The purpose behind the homestudy is to be sure that you meet the requirements for adoption and to help prepare us to parent the adopted child. There are two basic parts to the homestudy: the paperwork and the face to face interviews with your social worker.  Each agency chooses in which order they want to complete it, with some gathering all the required documents first and others doing the interview process and then gathering paperwork.  With our agency, we turn in all of the papers, documents, and even some questions we have for them, first and then proceed to the interviews.  The purpose of the interview part of the homestudy is for them to get to know us so the best child match  for our family (and the child) can be made.