We just completed our fourth and final home study visit a week ago. The whole process was quite in-depth. With out going into too much detail, I will do a short recap of each of the visits. Each visit had to be scheduled at least one week apart.
Visit 1: Friday, March 15 at 2:00 pm.
A large part of our first visit was spent going over the questionnaires that Travis and I filled out the week or so before. It involved lots of questions about our childhoods, relationships with family, friends, and each other. We both felt we had a lot of positive things to say about our upbringings, and feel very blessed that we didn't have any major issues that needed to be addressed.
The boys were supposed to be napping during the visit, but I made the mistake of telling Ayin we had a meeting. Oh, did that bring on the questions! Unfortunately, he didn't fall asleep before the social worker arrived, and heard her come in the front door. Needless to say, Ayin did not take a nap that day and Travis and I took turns tending to our curious 3-year-old. It's funny now, but we learned our lesson. No telling Ayin anything, and make sure he is fast asleep before the next home study visit! Thank you to Jhett for being a good napper!
Visit 2: Wednesday, March 27 at 8:30 am.
This visit took place at the agency office, with the kids at my sister-in-law's. We started out talking together about some of the same things. This visit had a much more serious vibe and we addressed some more serious topics. Trav and I each took turns meeting with the social worker individually. I'm not sure, but I am guessing they were looking for consistency among other things. With out going into everything, this was definitely the most intense of all the home study meetings.
We are thankful for a soveriegn God with a perfect plan. All of the adoption roller-coasters remind us of this very thing!
Visit 3: Friday, April 5 at 8:30 am.
This was the only visit where the boys were asked to be present. The social worker wanted to observe us as a family. It was pretty entertaining to watch her ask our 3-year-old questions about his family. She asked Ayin what things we liked to do together. It was pretty cute when he said he liked helping his daddy make pancakes for breakfast. When she asked him what he liked about his little brother, Jhett, he just said "I don't know". I guess we should be thankful that he didn't say anything worse...Ayin and Jhett have a love-hate relationship these days.
Our social worker also did a "safety check" of the house, checking things like smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, water temperature, and the general layout of the house. It was a lot less stressful than it might sound. I think we passed.
Visit 4: Friday, April 12 at 2:00 pm.
We made SURE that Ayin was fast asleep before our visit started. And I did not make the mistake of telling him about it. This was the shortest of the visits, only 45 minutes. It was basically just a review of some of the things we covered. We also finished our "Special Needs Questionnaire" that we had started the previous meeting. This is an extensive list of medical issues that a child could possibly have, where we had to mark "yes", "no", or "willing to discuss". This was probably one of the harder forms we have had to fill out. We tried to be as open as we could, realizing that many things deemed as "special needs" might be easily addressed in a developed country. And so many medical issues can vary in the degree or severity, so we ended up marking "WTD" for a number of things. If we put "no" for any health issues, we are not legally able to adopt a child with that specific issue without making an addendum to the home study, which would cost us more time and money. For that reason, we tried to be as open as possible.
The home study was a lengthy and in-depth process, and frankly I am glad it's over. Now we wait for our social worker to type and finalize our home study documents. She said it could take up to a month, but gave herself the goal of April 29th.
Once our home study is finalized, we can begin working on our dossier (packet of paperwork) to send to the country. This process involves a lot more paper work, including getting the bulk of it sent to Pierre to get state-sealed. It can take some time to send things in, get things back, etc. The estimate to get our dossier complete is 5-6 months. Yuck! I want to do this like yesterday, but international adoption is not for the impatient. Oh wait, but I am extremely impatient....oh boy....
Well, in the mean time it's actually great that I have been very busy getting ready for this rummage sale next week.
We also still have plenty of baby blankets if you are interested!
Thanks for your continued support and prayers. We truly need them!
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