Adventures in Adoption Homestudies

I promise I hadn't abandoned you again. Our internet was hit by lightning a couple of weeks ago and we've been offline and out of commission for a while. We're back now, though, so here's the latest on our homestudy.

The Hubs had his first interview for our homestudy two weeks ago on Friday, July 6. It went well, but The Hubs felt that he and our caseworker had not gotten very far into the questions he had to answer. He was a little disappointed. I teased him about being talkative (which he tends not to be with other people but is a totally different story when it's just the two of us).

On Monday, July 9, I had my first interview. My interview didn't get as far with questions as The Hubs' did, lol. So, it is official that I am the more talkative spouse. However, the interview did at least go very well.

Our next interviews were scheduled for two weeks later which meant The Hubs had his two days ago and mine is tomorrow. In a surprising turn of events, The Hubs completed his interview questions! I was incredibly impressed that he and our caseworker managed to complete the rest of his interview. Hopefully, I'll be able to accomplish the same feat tomorrow.

During The Hubs' appointment, our caseworker mentioned something that she thought would be of real interest to us and it seems that next Saturday The Hubs and I will be attending an adoption party cruise with the Savannah Riverboat Cruises and Wendy’s Kids! This cruise is an opportunity for prospective adoptive parents to meet some of the hard-to-place children who are available for adoption in Georgia. Now, this does not necessarily mean that the little girl we are interested in will definitely be there, but there is a possibility. There will be approximately 19 children on the cruise. There are 153 children listed as available for adoption on Georgia’s hard-to-place listing. That means there is a 1 in 8 chance of her being there. We’re willing to give it a go and hope she’s there! Even if she’s not there, it’s still an excellent opportunity for us to interact with some children who are available for placement. Until she is actually in our home, there are no guarantees, so meeting other children will be a good experience for us.

In case you’re wondering, hard-to-place children can be anything from children who are older to those with physical disabilities to those with mental disabilities to those with behavioral problems to sibling groups. We’re willing to consider any of these apart from those with severe physical or mental disabilities, simply because we don’t have the time to devote to these children that they deserve. We are both going to have to work (at least the way things are right now), so do not have the time to devote round the clock care. We would hate to take on something that would not be in the best interest of the child we adopt.

So, there you go! The Hubs is done and we’re meeting children next weekend…..now to just get my portion of the homestudy done, get our birth certificates and drug screens, get our smoke alarms and fire extinguishers and have the final visit with our caseworker and we’ll be all set to be submitted to our caseworker’s supervisor and our county director. Hopefully, we’ll be good to go before too long! I’ll let you know how my interview goes!