Thursday, November 08, 2007
Adoption #2- We're LICENSED!!!!
The day has finally arrived! We're officially licensed for foster-to-adopt! After all the delays and frustrations, we've made it!Looking back over our timeline, I see that we attended the agency on 30 March and it's now 8 November. So, it took us 7 months and a week to jump through all the state hoops to get licensed. For those of you considering adopting through the state, I'd encourage you to get started now because it takes quite a while!
So, now that we're licensed, we agreed to be put on the "Open Call" list, meaning the agency can call us day or night with emergency receiving or foster-to-adopt placements that meet our requirements.
When I learned that we had become licensed and Oronzo told me to call the agency back to let them know whether or not we'd like to be immediately put on the Open Call list, I must admit that I hesitated. It's not that I've changed my mind, it's just that my nerves got the better of me for a bit.
Placing that call meant accepting that our life is about to change in a drastic way. It could happen tonight or 6 months from now but if we stay on this course, changes are coming our way. We'll be opening our home to many strangers (foster care rep, case workers, lawyers, etc) and we'll be at the mercy of many more strangers. We'll be falling in love with a child (or several) and probably experiencing the pain (at least once, possibly more) of having to return the child to the parents. We'll be chugging away through the bureaucratic red tape of the state.
Life is really good right now. Snuggle Bug has our undivided attention, he's a great laid back kid, and things are fairly uncomplicated. I couldn't help but feeling nervous about disrupting all of that.
Thankfully, my excitement overcame my nervousness and I made that call! I let the agency know that we'd be willing to accept calls, starting now! Our state requires that we do 240 hours of strict foster care before we can be eligible for a foster-to-adopt placement so we're accepting emergency receiving calls to fulfill that requirement.
So, now we wait and watch the phones! Wish us luck and I'll keep you posted.
Labels: adoption #2, adoption paperwork, foster-to-adopt, fostering, Homestudy, licensing
27 Comments:
God bless you and congratulations on your caring enough to help these children. I will ne praying for you.
Congratulations on making it to this point! I think you are special for doing this. I'll keep you all in my prayers.
Wow!! I'm so excited for you and for the children whose lives you will impact. What a blessing! Keep us updated.
What a wonderful opportunity for you as well as the blessed little child who has the opportunity to be cared for and loved by great parents such as you. I'll keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers.
Congratulations! I know how good it feels to reach each of the milestones in this process.
Congratulations! How exciting!
Congratulations! I will be praying for you and your family also. My husband and I have thought about providing foster care for kids in need, maybe even foster to adopt, but we have been sidelined by the fear that it will interfere in some way with our own children. So I am definitely understanding of your hesitancy to make that call! I am so interested to see what you continue to think of this whole experience, and how things work out for you.
And, as a side note...I LOVE your "Holiday Cooking, Blogger Style" feature and your "Favorite Ingredients Friday". As soon as I have time to figure out Mr. Linky, I will start posting. It's time to contribute to that which I have been shamelessly using ALL THE TIME! There is always great recipes on each of them!
Have a fabulous weekend!
I can understand why your nerves almost got the better of you... Change can be scary but exciting and you are on your way to meeting that new little person in your life. God will surely bless your open hearts!
God Bless and know I am praying! Hugs!
You brought back such memories. Cherish these moments, because believe it or not you will forget how long it took and what a hard road it was. We have been foster parents for 3 years now & have adopted one of those children. We are now working on adopting her biological sister. It will be a hard road, but just keep being consistant and persevering through the moments. It will eventually get better. The one child that we received in our home as a foster child that we adopted was one of the most difficult children I have ever encountered. But now, after 1.5 years of love & consistant discipline she is a completely different kid & looking forward to being 9 soon. Just keep your head up and pray for your children everyday. If you ever have any questions, need anything or just feel like no one understands you can always contact me.
My blog is http://ushersmom.blogspot.com/
Warm wishes for your journey.
Great news! well done!
That is wonderful news! Congratulations!
Congrats to you and good for you. I love my 2 so much and don't think I have what it takes to foster children, but my parents did and they fostered 15 before they had me. So it takes someone very special and that must be you guys.
God speed and keep smiling.
Kathryn in NZ
It is so exciting!!! Sending you many positive vibes!
Woo HOO! I know God has a special child picked out for you - and what a blessing that will be for all involved!
That's terrific! Congratulations!
Congratulations!
Just found your blog looking forward to reading more about your adoption journeys.
We are considering adopting again - this time through foster/adopt.
~genevieve
congratulations! just found your blog. look forward to hearing more of your journey.
blessings to you!
Congratulations! I am praying for you guys!
yay yay yay! I'm just so excited and happy for you! I hope/pray that things move quickly from here on out!
I'm sure the feelings you're having about bringing another child into the family and how it will affect snuggle bug are completely natural to have; I'm having some of those feelings myself as my due date inches closer.
Oh how exciting! I'm praying for you and your family. I enjoy these updates on your efforts to adopt again so please do keep us posted!
Amy
YAY!! I am so very glad to hear this! Praying continuously for you and for the child(ren) that you will be fostering :)
-H
Oooh congrats! And good luck!! :)
I had no idea it takes so long to get licensed for that.
WooHoo! I am so happy for your family. I can imagine how this will change things, but the blessings you will recieve will be ten fold.
Congratulations! How wonderful to know that you're that much closer to adopting a child!
Congratulations! That's wonderful news. Good luck with concurrent placement.
Whoa! That is WONDERFUL news. As a former foster/adopt parent of 5 years, I must say too that I completely agree with your state's policy of needing 240 hours of foster first. Won't get into the why's of agreeing, but I do believe it's a necessary and positive policy.
I'm sooo excited for you to get that call. We've "been there, done that" and I wouldn't change it for the world.
Blessings,
~Toni~
We have adopted 3 of our kids from foster care. Good luck. I hope it happens soon for you.
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