Our Adoption Story (The Pells)

It's Been A While

2009-10-12T23:08:00.003-04:00

I know its been a while since I've updated my blog. I've had a lot going on (not adoption related). We continue to get referrals. We have not been matched with a child yet. Hopefully it will be soon. I sometimes am not very patient on this subject.

I lost my dad July 30, 2009 so this has been a very rough summer/fall for me. I am doing ok,,, some days are better than others. I keep in close contact with my mom.

I have been busy with RESOLVE (infertility support group). I organized an Infertility Seminar with guest speakers. The speakers was great, but I was so disappointed with the attendance. I'm really giving alot of thought to stepping down from RESOLVE. It has been a part of my life for the past four years.

Update

2009-06-06T21:27:00.002-04:00

We have received a total of three referrals. Our case is being transferred to a new social worker. We are looking forward to meeting her and working with her.

Nothing else new on the home front. Been a quiet week.

Placement Committee APPROVAL

2009-05-30T13:01:00.006-04:00

I haven't been on here for several days, but I do have some good news. We received our approval from the Placement Committee of our agency on Tuesday, May 26. So we can get referrals now. We have gotten two to so far. We said yes to one and no to one. I continue to look on line at website for available children. I want nothing more than to be a mom. I think I would like a young child (infant/toddler and an older child). I have so many emotions right now, its not funny. I am excited, scared, fearful of the unknown and happy, of course there are other emotions, sometimes it is hard to put them into words.

So if anyone is reading this, please keep us in your prayers. We want God to guide us to make the right decision and so we get the child that is supposed to be here. If you know of anyone that is thinking of giving a child up for adoption, please remember us.

Final Visit with Social Worker

2009-05-08T21:02:00.005-04:00

We had our final visit with the social worker on Monday, April 27, 2009. We saw a rough draft of our home study, we had a few corrections to make, we signed our license application for the Foster License. Turned in remaining paperwork, had social worker look at our picture book. I tried printing one copy at home and ran out of ink. So I had to make 20 copies of our picture book and drop them off at their office. So now the social worker has to retype the home study and submit all our paperwork to their main office to be reviewed by the Placement Committee. Once the committee approves, we can be put on the referral list. Hopefully that will only take a short amount of time. The committee only meets one day a week. I also had to drop off a picture to be put in their waiting families book and write a little slogan to go under the picture. So everything has been dropped off.

Now the hard part starts - The WAIT!!!

MAPP Class

2009-05-08T20:45:00.004-04:00

We started our MAPP (Model Approach to Partnerships in Parenting) class on 4/2 and finished on 4/25. We have our certificate of completion. It was a 30 hour class. While in the class we met 19 great people. I really hope that we can continue to stay in contact during our journeys. I think we were all there for the same reason - foster to adopt. The classes was a lot of information. We were working on our picture book during t his time and our final meeting with the social worker was on April 27, 2009.

Home Visit/3rd Visit with Social Worker

2009-05-08T20:33:00.005-04:00

Our 3rd visit with the social worker was a home visit and it was scheduled on Monday, March 2, 2009, but due to adverse weather our social worker canceled and rescheduled to Monday, March 16, 2009. Also one of our references came to our house and spoke to the social worker. I had more paperwork to turn in. We also had more paperwork to fill out. The visit did not last very long. We talked for a bit, then our reference was here, she did her thing and had to leave and go to work. The social worker did a walk through of the house and that was it.

Since the meeting was canceled on 3/2/09 we went to the Court House and got our electronic fingerprints done. Another thing we could mark off our list.

We set up our 4th and final visit with the social worker it was for Monday, April 27, 2009.

Paper Chase/2nd Visit with Social Worker

2009-05-08T20:10:00.005-04:00

We worked on gathering our paperwork from our first visit till our second visit with the social worker. We had to get certified copies of our marriage certificate, divorce decree, criminal background check, fingerprints, high school diploma or transcript, references and financial worksheet. We also was told about the MAPP (Model Approach of Partnerships in Parenting) class we had to take, which was a 30 hour class. The Raleigh class for February was full so we had to wait for the April class. We was offered a class in Greensboro on every Saturday in February, but we could not do that becaue Bart could not get off work. So we signed up for the April class, it started on April 2 and finished on April 25, 2009. Our home visit with the social worker was set up for Monday, March 2, 2009.

The start of our journey/ Social Worker 1st Visit

2009-05-08T19:15:00.007-04:00

The beginning of December 2008 is when our adoption journey first began. I filled out the application and we both signed it and mailed it. I had no idea what to expect next or when. Well very shortly after mailing the form, Bart got sick and was in the hospital for 12 days, so of course, Adoption was the last thing on my mind. Actually the social worker had called the house and left a message while he was in the hospital. I finally called her back and explained that Bart was in the hospital, she was wanting to set up our first meeting. Our first meeting with our social worker was on Tuesday, January 6, 2009. We had lots more paper to fill out and she was telling us what to expect and wanted to make sure we were in for the long haul. Then the paper chase began.