HomeStudy Visit #1

Well, we finally had our first homestudy visit on Monday!

Our social worker arrived at our house 15 minutes early, and we got started. She went over the list of all the paperwork that needed to be turned in before we could be approved. I was ECSTATIC to find out the only remaining paperwork we have left to do is the weekly homework from our classes! YAY US!

She then talked to us about making the decision to become licensed to foster, adopt, or be dually licensed. We have until our 10th class to decide what we are going to do. Our original plan all along was to adopt a young school-aged child, and we were met with some roadblocks on Monday night. Our caseworker, who insisted she was not trying to deter us from adopting, said that a child that young that did NOT have any special needs would probably be adopted by their foster parents. She further explained that if we try to do a straight adoption, we might find end up waiting a long time for a child.

So now we have some things to think about. We have to decide what is best for our family. We have to determine how much time we are able to commit to doing foster care, because that would then entail making room for visitations with the child’s birth family in our already busy schedule. BUT, if it means a different path to adopting our child, then maybe that is the way to go.

After the discussions were over, we took her on a tour of our home. She looked in each room, not real throroughly– more to just see the layout of the house. I expected a checklist and us having to show her that we had adhered to every rule and guideline, but it wasn’t like that at all. She just wanted to see what our home was like. It was pretty easy.

After that was done, she sat down with the two girls and talked to them for about ten minutes. She asked them several questions about what kinds of rules we have in our home, how they would react if a new child in the house got into their stuff. What would they do if the new child did something at school to embarrass them in front of their friends? Threw a tantrum in front of everyone? It was interesting to hear their responses, and they did great.

At the end of the visit, we scheduled our second homestudy visit.

FOR THIS FRIDAY.

Yikes.