Two Big Checkmarks

This week we were able to check off two huge items off of our to-do list.  Our final home study visit including the home safety check and our final classes.   On Thursday our case worker came over and we finished our home study and she toured the house to make sure it was safe for children.

During this home study we had to talk about our relationship and describe one another.  Being put on the spot to describe me is apparently not one of Dave's strong points.   He described me as analytical and nice to our animals (I hope this translates to mean I will make a good mom).   Our home safety inspection passed without any issues.  We actually got bonus points for having the kid(s) room be relatively empty as our plan is to have them pick out what they want so it will be theirs.   Our case worker said she really likes it when rooms are a blank slate as picking out furniture, bedding and paint helps the kids fell like the room is their own and isn't somebody else's.  

This weekend also marked the end of our training classes.  The training is normally held over 6 weeks but they condensed it to 3 weekends which was great, I don't think I could have handled driving in rush hour traffic like that for another week.  Friday rush hour traffic is brutal.   I have to admit I did not find the classes and reading material to be helpful.  It was very negative and focused on all the issues that can arise.   We read about 90 pages of procedures, effects of drug use on development, how to detect sexual abuse, etc.  The section on strategies on how to deal with these items 2 pages!   I realize that these kid(s) will have traumatic backgrounds but spending so much time on the negative and not being provided a whole lot of resources on how to handle it was very depressing.  Luckily we've been doing some reading outside of class that is helping to give us tools on how to handle this.   My favorite article so far has been one my coworker shared with me from The New Yorker.

Now that these two major milestones are completed what happens next?   We wait.   Our case worker will write up our profile and case study to be presented to the team for licensing.  This should be completed in about 2 weeks and then we get to review the document.  Once the document is finalized we will be fully licensed and can begin the networking and search for our future child(ren).  We anticipate this happening in early May.