Well, some good news. Our licensing/home study process should be done within the month. Mandy had a chance to talk with our foster social worker (Angelica), yesterday and work out a few scheduling issues. May 9th our home will be reviewed and approved (hopefully) by Orange County Social Services. This is pretty exciting for us. Now there will still be a few more hurdles to jump through, but this is a big step for us. We were so excited that we went out and celebrated last night. Today we went down to IKEA and Target and got the last few necessities for our child's room in order to get through the licensing process. Then we spent the rest of the day putting together furniture, organizing our paperwork and making sure that all of the little (sometimes ridiculous) requirements of OC Foster Care/Social Services. This has truly been an answer to prayer.
This also goes to show that it pays to be persistent. Mandy and I know that social workers don't always feel pressure to follow-through on items or licensing requests. This is not to say anything about our personal social worker (who has been really great) but to say that persistence pays off. Mandy has called weekly just to say "hi" and to keep our names on the front of our Social Workers mind. Good thing we did. When Mandy made her weekly call our social worker informed her that all of our paperwork was complete and we were cleared to have our house reviewed and licensed. Our social worker told us that she was going to call us sometime next week. Now the fact that everything was cleared and she hadn't called us is pretty bad, but I wonder if she would have called us next week. Might we have waited two or three weeks? This could have been real bad since I am going to be in Washington DC for about six days at the end of the month.
So, the our social worker's non-chalant attitude about following-up on us could have cost us another month. Despite the excitement I feel that we are closing in on the finish, I am a little frustrated that a social service industry that constantly complains about needing "qualified" foster and adoptive parents doesn't feel the need to take immediate action to address the need.
I won't dwell on that, though, I am just excited to be moving forward. We appreciate all of you who have continued to pray for us through this process. Friends from diverse spots like Portland( Oregon), Riverside, Redlands, Granada Hills, West Covina, Orange County, Colorado Spring (Colorado), Bloomington (Indiana), Boston (Mass), Grand Rapids (Michigan) and more have all followed our journey and given us their support. To all of you we say thank you and ask you to keep praying as we are still a work in process.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Adoption Journal #19
As you may have noticed we have transferred our blog to this site in order to dedicate this blog to our process and eventually to our young son or daughter when they arrive.
Well it is near the end of April and we are still waiting. Our foster care licensing social worker has been in contact with us and she told us that all we are waiting for is a report from the DMV. I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't seem like too big of a deal and so things are looking good. As soon as our Foster Care SW has all of the paperwork she needs she will shcedule an appointment to come license our home. Then our adoption SW will come to our home and compelte our home study. Following that we are referred out to other social workers looking to place recently removed (or currently waiting) children in foster/adoptive homes. This process takes a little time, but things are moving along.
When we went to our orientation in February of last year we were told that the average waiting time is around 18 months. At the time I couldn't see how that was possible, but now I see it more clearly. This is not to say that I agree with the length of time or the process hurdles, just that I understand why that number was given. We are currently at the end of month 14. We are hopeful that we will come in below the average wait time (hopefully before the end of August), but we know that God has timed this all well. Things are moving along and we continue to get excited about the possibilities. Thank you for your prayers and support.
Well it is near the end of April and we are still waiting. Our foster care licensing social worker has been in contact with us and she told us that all we are waiting for is a report from the DMV. I'm not sure what that is, but it doesn't seem like too big of a deal and so things are looking good. As soon as our Foster Care SW has all of the paperwork she needs she will shcedule an appointment to come license our home. Then our adoption SW will come to our home and compelte our home study. Following that we are referred out to other social workers looking to place recently removed (or currently waiting) children in foster/adoptive homes. This process takes a little time, but things are moving along.
When we went to our orientation in February of last year we were told that the average waiting time is around 18 months. At the time I couldn't see how that was possible, but now I see it more clearly. This is not to say that I agree with the length of time or the process hurdles, just that I understand why that number was given. We are currently at the end of month 14. We are hopeful that we will come in below the average wait time (hopefully before the end of August), but we know that God has timed this all well. Things are moving along and we continue to get excited about the possibilities. Thank you for your prayers and support.
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