Glenn's Home Study Post

For some reason, I had originally thought that Home Study was a series of classes we had to take, but it's actually a series of home visits made by the social worker to meet us, see our house, go over paperwork, and interview us individually. And first, we had the impression that this was some kind of test for us to pass or fail. But once we thought about it, we realized that the social worker isn't there to judge us (well, at least as long as we don't have any open sewer holes in our home, or walls covered in metal spikes... which we don't), but to help us and advocate for us. So that did change our attitude and concerns about the process. The Pathways class helped as well, especially since the people were so great and all the adoptions seemed to have twists and turns, but ultimately happy endings.

That didn't stop me from getting a little nervous and high strung when our social worker came by. But it was a very simple, matter-of-fact meeting. She went through our paperwork and listed anything we were missing. She gave us some tips on our 2-page Family Profile sheet (which is the first thing the birth mother sees of us, and thus our first "sales pitch"). Ours happened to be VERY fleshed out with details and descriptions, which she said was a bit overwhelming and might actually turn off the birth mothers. So we're going to re-write and simplify. As anyone who reads this blog knows, we have no shortage of words, so we'll have to edit.

We also found out that the autobiographical statements we wrote are really for the agency, not the mother, who will never read them. So perhaps 7 pages each was a little bit of overkill. But we are, of course, very excited and intent on letting everyone know not just how much we want to be parents, but how ready we are.

She did a quick walk-through of our home, and I was surprised that she didn't make comments like, "Oh you'll have to put a gate there," or "What are those metal spikes doing in the wall?" She was very nice and helpful, but it was a relief when she left and we could talk it over.

There's a lot for us to think about, and only a little bit more paperwork to do. The next big thing is the "Dear Birth Mother" letter, which we'll try to keep under 100 pages. ;-)