Today we took the first step in our new adoption & put our application in the mail. If you have never done this, it consists of a 15 page questionnaire about everything from your religious beliefs to your child care plans. We also had to gather countless references (thank you everyone who volunteered & those of you that didn't but we put you down anyway). You also have to include photos of every room in your home & yards, along with pets & everyone living in the home. Also required were 2 most recent pay stubs, proof of auto insurance, birth certificates, FBI background releases, a floor plan of our home & a financial form. Now this is where many people get nervous! I would just like to say this is not where they determine if you are "rich" enough to adopt a child. What they basically want to know is if you have stability & are able to make ends meet before adopting or fostering. They do not want to have people that can't pay their bills volunteer to adopt or foster just for a paycheck, Yes people do this. From my memory it should take a couple of weeks before the recruiter pounces on us like a lion after a gazelle. For recruiters every new family is a "foster" family. Due to the high number of children in foster care & the low numbers of volunteers, they need foster families BAD. This is a decision every family must make for themselves. We decided early on this wasn't for us with our first placement. We just didn't think we could handle finally getting the family we wanted & living with the risk that we may not get to keep that child forever. With this adoption we talked about it quite a bit but ultimately decided that again, it wasn't right. Our son was ripped away from the only family he ever knew at 2 years old. I think this builds a sense of dis-trust in him that we have spent YEARS rebuilding. To bring in a sibling for him to love (he asks daily for a sister), then to have to rip that child away isn't an option for us. So on one hand this could be a faster placement for us since we've been told your second adoption always goes way faster because you have proved you can do it. On the other hand, since we are wanting a little girl this time we may be waiting a bit longer. It seems there are much fewer girls available than boys. So I will post an update once we move on to the next step!
-Crystal
