Adoption Stories That Boost Our Faith

If you have time, these are so fun to read!  Amazing how God comes through with the needed finances JUST when they're needed.  Totally faith-building.

http://thespiritofadoption.blogspot.com/2007/11/god-finances-adoptions.html

http://www.spiritoffaithadoptions.org/story_dave_kim_02.html

http://juliegumm.com/wordpress/?p=2579

More faith builders to follow later. :)

The Steps of the Process

Here are what we understand to be the steps in the process of infant adoption through Catholic Charities:

1. Fill out and send in an "Interest Inventory."  This basically serves the purpose of determining whether we meet the initial qualifications to apply to adopt through CC (i.e. how long we've been married, our income, whether we've been convicted of crimes other than minor traffic violations, etc, etc....)   We completed this paperwork and sent it in in early January, as shown in the timeline to the right.

2. Fill out and send in the actual Application paperwork and fee ($170). We are waiting to receive the application paperwork in the mail, hopefully today. It was mailed yesterday.

3. Once our application and background checks are approved, we start the home study process.  This will involve extensive interviews with us as a couple, with us as individuals, and probably with Jerusha and Jo, who live with us.  They will put together a (long!) document that details our individual histories, the way we were parented, our current relationships with our siblings and our parents, the history and health of our marriage, our parenting style, and LOTS of other things. (We went through a home study already when we began doing foster care in 2008.)  We will owe a $1,300 fee at the beginning of this process.  I've been told that the completion of the home study usually occurs around the 3 month mark from when a couple initially applies.

4. While our home study is being completed, we will be working on our "family profile." This will most likely be in the form of a binder that will be full of information about our family (both serious and fun), pictures of our family, our home, of Jo and Jerusha, of us with our extended families, etc, etc.  This will also include a "Dear Birth Mom" letter that will be read by a birth mom who is looking at our family profile as she considers possible adoptive families for her baby.

5. Once our profile and our home study are complete, we will be an official "waiting couple."  At this point, the waiting REALLY begins....waiting to be chosen by a birth mother for her baby.

6. We will be matched with a birth mom, who likely will be approaching her due date.  This is where the specific details of how things will happen can vary a TON.  We know that we will need to obtain an attorney to handle our side of the legal work, which will be an additional cost (not sure how much yet).  We also know that there may be specific costs (for which we'll be responsible) associated with medical care for the baby while in the hospital, etc, etc.

7. The baby will be born and most likely within a few days, will be placed in our home.  Final placement fee will be due at this time (likely around $10,000).  There will be, I believe, 3 months of follow up visits with a CC case worker before....

8. Finalization of the adoption occurs.  


These steps are DEFINITELY subject to revision as we learn more details and get further into the process.  :)

The Practicals

We have decided to adopt domestically, which means that our baby will be born in the United States, and likely right here in the Kansas City area.  Eventually we may adopt overseas also, but for now we feel led to start here in the U.S.  As this point it looks like we will be adopting through Catholic Charities of KC, MO.  I have randomly (in the last few years) connected with a few different people who have adopted through CC and have had good experiences.  I have also researched CC online and found many others who have had positive adoption experiences with CC.  In the beginning of January when we began talking about proactively moving toward adoption, I called CC for info and found out that they had an abnormally large number of adoptions in 2011 and therefore, their base of "waiting" couples has been largely depleted...making this a great time to apply through them, since they need to rebuild their base of waiting couples.  There is no way of knowing for sure whether CC will continue to have as many adoptions in 2012 as they had in 2011... but for now, this seems like a good place to start.  Also....according to Catholic Charities, there is a great need for couples who desire to adopt biracial or African American babies (which we are very open to).

Please comment with any questions that you have and I will try to answer them asap.  :)  More info to come...

Fall - Part 2: Kelly and Will's Visit!

Stan's sister Kelly and our nephew Will came to visit last week! It was so fun to have them for a few days. Here are some pics from our time together.

We visited Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead south of KC. It's beautiful there all the time, but especially in the fall. Lots of fun was had by all. :) (I'm a poet.)

The other highlight of Kelly and Will's visit was definitely our evening at T-Rex Cafe. Isaac loves it there and it was so fun to share it with Will for the first time! Kelly treated us all to the amazingly chocolatey dessert pictured below: Chocolate Extinction! YUMMO.

Finally, a pic of Isaac and Will in their matching truck PJ's! :) Fun! It was so entertaining to watch the two of them together. They are gonna be buds in another year or so. :) I love that they're only a year apart in age.

fall: a thousand words

Hope you're all enjoying the beauty of this amazing season! It's my absolute FAVE. :)
Love to you, friends!