Home Visits
After the paperwork is finished (see here and here), the home study is wrapped up with some face-to-face interviews. Our home study agency's requirements are pretty typical for this process. They include:
~An Orientation (We attended this in DC in early June while a darling friend watched the kids overnight and both kids threw up all day long at her house. Bless her. The orientation basically covered the home study process as well as medical issues in international adoption/common challenges that kids who have trauma face/bonding and attachment/transition/resources.)
~A family interview, including the kids
~Individual interviews for Caleb & me
~A home safety inspection
Our sweet social worker, Abby, is driving down from DC (because of this) and she is visiting another family in the area so we have all had to work out a schedule that allows both families to be interviewed this weekend. This will cut down on some of the costs (woohoo!) because we will split Abby's travel and hotel costs with the other family. It also saves Abby from having to drive down I-95 an extra time. That, friends, is worth much.
This Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, we will be completing all of the interviews and the home safety inspection. At that point, we will be DONE with the home study, which is great progress. Abby will write up a big report about our family and we will use that to finish our dossier and immigration paperwork.
We are required to update the home study every 12 months AND every time we move, so we are no where near finished after this weekend. But this is the big one and it is significant to have it completed.
Please pray for safe travels, good weather, and quality time together. While the interviews can feel like a judgment on our lives and especially our parenting, it's really a great way for Abby to get to know us so that we will eventually be matched with the absolute right children that God has for our family.
Thanks friends.
~An Orientation (We attended this in DC in early June while a darling friend watched the kids overnight and both kids threw up all day long at her house. Bless her. The orientation basically covered the home study process as well as medical issues in international adoption/common challenges that kids who have trauma face/bonding and attachment/transition/resources.)
~A family interview, including the kids
~Individual interviews for Caleb & me
~A home safety inspection
Our sweet social worker, Abby, is driving down from DC (because of this) and she is visiting another family in the area so we have all had to work out a schedule that allows both families to be interviewed this weekend. This will cut down on some of the costs (woohoo!) because we will split Abby's travel and hotel costs with the other family. It also saves Abby from having to drive down I-95 an extra time. That, friends, is worth much.
This Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, we will be completing all of the interviews and the home safety inspection. At that point, we will be DONE with the home study, which is great progress. Abby will write up a big report about our family and we will use that to finish our dossier and immigration paperwork.
We are required to update the home study every 12 months AND every time we move, so we are no where near finished after this weekend. But this is the big one and it is significant to have it completed.
Please pray for safe travels, good weather, and quality time together. While the interviews can feel like a judgment on our lives and especially our parenting, it's really a great way for Abby to get to know us so that we will eventually be matched with the absolute right children that God has for our family.
Thanks friends.
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