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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Step Three: Home Study, Part 1

So we started our home study.

I was all kinds of nervous and anxious about it. I mean, we just had a litter of  pitbull puppies in our house. Surely that will cause us to not be approved. (Before you get all judgey, settle down. They aren't staying).

I filled out two hours worth of forms when we very first found out about SuperBaby and then hadn't heard a word for almost a month. I panicked a little, called a few times, and finally got our appointment set up. I don't think I was being put off, because when I slowed down and thought about it, it would probably take a little while to go through two hours of paperwork.

Source

If you don't know anything about home studies, let me explain. We had to get finger printed, criminal histories, credit reports, physicals from our doctors, and six hours worth of talking to this lady. Two of which are in our house when she does her tour. On top of that: it is expensive. I don't know what other states charge, but I have heard it is more expensive in places like New York and Chicago. I don't know how Indiana ranks with other states, but in my opinion it is expensive.

The last time I called, our social worker told me that she was getting ready to call me to schedule. Sounds like a line right? I guess it wasn't. We set up our appointment and that was that.

When we went in to meet her, I had no idea what we were in for. I was so afraid it was going to be in a cold office with hard metal chairs and lots of fluorescent lighting. For some reason "Social Services"  doesn't bring a warm and friendly image to my mind. It also helps make my "worst case scenario" attitude all that much worse.

I was pleasantly surprised when our social worker turned out to be a younger, casual, and extremely friendly lady. She didn't make it a strict interview, but instead it was a conversation between the three of us. She told us quite a bit about her, and even some about her family, and it wasn't bad.

We had to fill out a homework sheet that was questions about our backgrounds. She went through our answers and talked to us about it. I really was a getting to know you kind of thing.

When we left we scheduled our next appointment and she gave us our homework for next time. That meeting will focus more on our marriage, and any past trauma in our lives.

So far it has been a much more pleasant experience than I was anticipating and it is going much quicker than I expected.

One thing she said though is so true. She mentioned that we are in a very unique situation, because most couples who are starting their home study have no light at the end. We already have SuperBaby that we're anticipating. Most couples at this point are doing their home study just to have their name put into the adoption pool. We are very lucky. And blessed.


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6 comments:

  1. O I would have been so nervous too! I had to go to this government building here and even though it was only to get my biometrics done and picture taken I was so nervous because like you said Social Services things sound like they will lock you up no matter what!

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  2. I'm so enjoying reading along with your journey-thank you for sharing it. I'm glad the homestudy experience has been a pleasant surprise!

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    1. Thanks Stacy! I'm glad you're here! The homestudy has been much better than I could have ever imagined. We're more than halfway done now. Posts to follow. :)

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  3. Wow I knew that it was intense, but I never really thought about all of the hours and hours of work that goes into it all. That is good that it is quicker and easier than expected! YAY for the SuperBaby arrival!

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    1. We're halfway done now, so I'm feeling pretty good about everything. I'm so excited for the baby!

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