Homestudy....Here we come!

written by Kate

Last week Chad and I were lucky enough to celebrate our 4th wedding anniversary at Children's Home Society while attending Pre-Adoption Classes/Counseling. We spend 16 hours over the course of two days chatting it up with complete strangers who all have the same goal, adopting. Really, it wasn't that bad, but there is something to be said about getting thrown into a room of people you have never met and a social worker that facilitates conversations and exercises centered around things that I rarely share with my own mother (and for the record, we share A LOT.)

Even though it was difficult at times to share, overall there was a lot of information packed into the classes that was absolutely necessary. Each of the programs that we attended had a lot of wonderful information to absorb, and at times a little overwhelming. Different aspects of transracial and transcultural parenting were discussed as well as panels which included adoptive parents, adults that were adopted as children and birth mothers that had given up their children. The good news is that Chad and I walked away from the 2 day course knowing this was still the right thing to do, children need families to thrive, and by-golly, we are going to attempt to raise a few.

So, what is life after PAC going to entail? Well, Chad and I have some homework to knock out. We have a 10 page essay/questionnaire to fill out separately by ourselves, that's 20 pages in total (single spaced by the way....yeah the social worker actually said that) and let me tell you, they are NOT easy questions. In fact, if everyone in the world had to fill out a questionnaire like this in order to get pregnant or parent, the world would not need birth control, and yes I am serious. Really, wouldn't you want to know how your spouse would like to change you? I know I do...not. That is indeed just the tip of the iceberg.

And this is just the beginning....let the homestudy process begin!