Elizabeth is such a wonderful person, and has put us completely at ease from day one.
And that's such an important thing. Adoption is always a little scary, and I'd imagine that foster care adoption is even more so. If nothing else, there's an unfortunate stigma attached to the kids, because they come from such painful backgrounds. The kind of trauma these kids endure in their early years can certainly leave a scar. So a lot of people are afraid to adopt a child from foster care.
I've seen firsthand how amazing foster kids can be, however. I've been blessed to know several families who have adopted through the foster system, and those kids have turned out so beautifully. With a loving, devoted family, it's amazing how resilient children can be. I have all the faith in the world that whatever children we adopt will be able to grow up to be healthy, happy, and well-adjusted.
That doesn't mean that it'll be a piece of cake, of course. There's going to be a lot of hard work throughout this process. And yes, every kid is hard work in one way or another, and I'm confident we'll be able to face it. But I can see how so many people find the idea of foster-adoption intimidating.
And I'm not going to lie, we've had our intimidated moments ourselves, beginning with the enormous stack of paperwork we had to fill out before we could move forward with the process. Then, of course, we have to do background checks, fingerprinting, get a TB test, do first aid and CPR training, take two six-hour Saturday classes, put together a photo book, fill out more paperwork, get our home up to code, and do all the home study interviews and inspections.
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| It's okay, we're all a little mad here... |
And that's before we ever see any kids. The whole thing is kind of bananas.
We're blessed to be working with an amazing agency, however, as well as our fantastic case worker, Elizabeth. Everyone we've talked to and worked with through the agency has been incredibly helpful. They never get frustrated with the number of questions we have, or the countless emails I send. They're honest with us about how tough this process (and adjusting post-adoption) can be, but they're also encouraging. They won't just be with us through the adoption, either. They've said we can contact them anytime we need help, even after everything is finalized.
They genuinely care about kids, and the families who take them in. They sincerely want us to succeed, and they're willing to help us do it.
It makes the whole process so much easier. We'd thought about adopting through foster care in the past, but it seemed overwhelming. We didn't even know where to start. This agency, though, seriously walks us through every step of the process. It's okay that we don't know it all, because they do, and they're here to help.
I'm so grateful for these amazing people who are helping us grow our family. I'm grateful for everything they've done for us, and for the kids we're going to adopt. I'm grateful that they are there when these little ones need them, to save them from a terrible situation and find them a family who will love them as they deserve.
And I'm thankful we decided to go ahead with this foster-adoption process. No matter how crazy it may be
from time to time, I get the feeling it's going to be one of the best decisions we've ever made.
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