Decisions, Decisions

Decisions, Decisions

Once we made the decision to move forward with adoption, we connected and/or met with several wonderful people in our lives that have grown their families through different adoption routes. We asked questions and got an abundance of invaluable insight that no research we could have done would have yielded. We also scoured every website we could find with an adoption agency in the metro area and scheduled information sessions with all the agencies that met our criteria! During all of our research we continued to pray for guidance: that we would find an agency that matched our criteria; that the information sessions we attended would give us the information we needed to make program decisions; and to give us the patience and stamina we need to embark on this journey.

After several evenings spent taking notes and drives around the metro filled with intense conversations, and several more nights spent in prayer, we learned a LOT! We came into the process thinking we were going to pursue International Adoption, likely from a country that one or both of us had visited. However, when we learned more about the Hague Convention, and that adoptive children are first open to family members; then open to families within their home country; next, to families of the same ethnicity; before being available for international adoption (as well as the fact that many international countries require infertility as an adoption criteria) we decided that wasn't the right fit for our family. We made the next decision: that we wanted to pursue a National Infant Program. With that decision made, our agency decision came next! We felt most drawn to the program and support that Evolve Adoption & Family Services offered and set up a 1:1 meeting to go over our remaining questions and make our decision "final"! We have since connected with the Domestic Infant Coordinator and are excited to embark on our adoption journey with EVOLVE! 


What Happens Next?

Now that we have applied and been accepted into Evolve's National Infant Domestic Adoption program, we will begin the home study process. This process is made up of 3 parts: interviews, paperwork, and trainings. We meet with our Social Worker to get to know one another (since they will be our lifeline throughout this emotional and intense process), fill out an extremely intense and in-depth amount of paperwork, and attend 3 all-day trainings! After we finish those pieces, we will have our Social Worker out to our house to complete a Home Visit so they are able to write our recommendation. Since I will have the summer off from teaching, we plan to complete this process in the next few months before I return to work in the fall! 

Then we wait....

After completing our home study process, our profile will be added to agencies and referral sources across the nation for expectant parent(s) to choose from. It is at that point that we simply wait...and pray! We could be matched at any point (from 1 day to more than a year) depending on expectant parent(s) choice. So we will wait...and we will pray...and we will hope. And hopefully we will be blessed with a baby to grow our family!

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