Last night we had our final home study appointment!
Our social worker, Angie, came to our new house. She looked in every closet, (which she admitted feeling very strange about) asked questions about our lifestyle, our marriage, our gun ownership and what we do for fun. She checked to see if we had smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and an emergency contact list. She asked if our house had any 'water features', where our children would sleep, whether we walked around the house nude, and if our neighborhood was diverse. In whole, she basically made sure we were normal and safe.
At one point Angie was asking us questions about how we intend to raise our children. In response to one of my rants on proper child rearing, Angie gently and in good humor said, "You know, they say you do your best parenting before you have children." I am sure I will find these words to be both humbling and true!
The (general) next steps are:
- Andy has one final meeting with the social worker (next week)
- Agency finalizes home study (within a month)
- We read and review home study (we are not allowed to be in possession of our home study so we will continue to work closely with Angel Dance to make sure everyone who needs a copy of it receives it.)
- I600A is mailed (this is basically a "we want to adopt" form that you fill out in advance of a referral)
- Dossier* is submitted to One World Adoption
-Wait for referral....
-Accept referral
-Bring home our children!
*Dossier is a packet of documents that you submit to your agency when you are ready to adopt. Ours is actually very, very simple as the Congo is who dictates what needs to be in there. Ours includes: certified birth and marriage certificates, medical letters, passport photos, our notarized home study, and a few other documents.
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