The rest of the training process was pretty straightforward. The last training session was a panel of current/past foster-adopt families who shared their experiences with us. It was incredible and frustrating to listen to their stories. A common theme throughout was just the huge number of foster families who are just in in for the subsidy. They do not care about the children, their needs, or have their best interest in mind when making decisions. There were a few who were lucky enough to have caring, good-hearted foster families taking care of their children before they were placed in their home. Another shocking realization was that when we meet with our social worker and the child's social worker to determine if it is a good match, we are given a rundown of the child's history and issues. These can be very misleading as its just the notes of the many social workers assigned to the child. Over time, this can be misinterpreted, assigned inappropriate labels, and affect the "adoptability probability" of the child. For example, one family met their son and was told he was considered "unadoptable." He was in foster care because he showed up to the hospital with severe head trauma. When they met him at 18 months old, he was on dozens of medications and was told they were unsure of his cognitive ability. He is now 3 years old, and was running around the room playing with his train. He is brilliant, is on NO medications, and interacts just like any other 3 year old boy. It just reaffirms the fact that when children are placed in a stable, loving home, they will grow leaps and bounds. They just need to be given a chance. All the stories were pretty similar... a scary history, a leap of faith, and growth beyond what was believed or anticipated.
Family-Friends Support Group
On October 13th, we had our physical home inspection and our social worker met with our family and close friends for a final evaluation. The home inspection took only about 15 minutes (and after all that preparing... sheesh!!) We ate dinner and our social worker answered the questions of our family members. It was much less painful than I anticipated and it was so nice to gather together and celebrate this new journey we are about to embark upon!
FINALLY CERTIFIED!!
Thursday, November 20th, we received an email that we are OFFICIALLY a certified foster-adopt family home and can begin the matching process! We aren't sure how long this will take or where our child will come from, but we are so excited to begin the next leg of the journey!
So excited!!!!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
- Boundless faith through the matching process, where we will have to make quick decisions with limited and oftentimes, scary information
- I am beginning a new career in a few weeks which will require me to travel. Please pray for coordinated schedules, plenty of family time, and flexibility.
- With the new job, we will be selling our home in the new year and moving. Please pray for wisdom throughout that process and determining where to live.
